Time To Make History
by UknownHero
Summary: "The wheels of fate are turning every day, Minato-kun. You are no longer the only Fool, but you and your friends are somewhere... very different. You don't seem worried about this, aren't you? But tell me, Minato-kun, do you think you will just reach out for the truth? Or, will you make history?" P3 in P4! Based on Chronologically Displaced by The Heartless Wanderer!
1. Chapter 1: Prologue to Everything

Yeah… I have a Persona kick going on. UknownHero here, I've had this idea after reading a story where the P4 cast ending up in P3, but it was kind of not updating anymore so this is my version. Note that I have _not_ played through Persona 3 at all (I don't own any version the game) and I have thoroughly spoiled myself on it and there are going to be various assumptions like:

-All P3 Social Links are maxed out.  
-Mitsuru's father is still alive at the time before the cast is sent through time.  
-Minato having a combination of personalities like being a big eater but not caring about his wellbeing and such.  
-Characters will probably be OOC, depending on how well I do.  
-And others… depending if I get yelled at for screwing something up.

Anyway, let's do this.

New Game… Start!

Chapter 1: Prologue to Everything

This is not a story about defying fate.

Two boys stood 20 feet away from each other, facing each other as the background seemed to fade into black around them. They only silently looked at each other, almost if they were staring into each other's soul.

One had dark blue hair unkempt at the front, blue eyes and a light build. He was also shorter than the average 16 year old. His bangs covering his right eye. Wearing a Gekkoukan uniform and some clip-on earphones, he was Minato Arisato, the field team leader of SEES.

The other had pale skin, short bowl-shaped gray hair with matching gray eyes and is quite tall for someone his age. Wearing his Yasogami High uniform in a casual style, he was Yu Narukami, the leader of the Investigation Team.

Both were Fools, both were Wild Cards, both had establish bonds that would never seem to break, both had infinite potential that had yet to be realized.

And well, they weren't actually working with each other right now.

"PERSONA!"

Again, it has to be stated. This is not a story about defying fate. This is not a story about fixing what went wrong, redeeming the irredeemable and all that crap you'd see in these types of stories.

This is a story about… just preventing a bad ending.

(Rewind!)

(Afternoon)

"Welcome to the Velvet Room." It always the same line every time Minato went to the blue room. The same voice, the same two people to greet him, it had become a part of his daily routine. Wake up. Eat. Go to school. Sleep until it was after school. Visit the Velvet Room. Hang out with his friends or go to one of the clubs he's in. Go back to the dorm. Wait for the Dark Hour. Go through Tartarus. Sleep. Repeat. Apart from the Velvet Room, the Dark Hour and anything that involved other people interacting with him in a friendly manner, it was basically the same schedule he went by from the previous years and once again the days seemed to go by faster and faster. Sure, there was the occasional special event but eventually things just started to blur together again.

But, that didn't mean it was a bad thing.

He was the pinnacle of anti-socialism before he came to Tatsumi Port Island. All he had, and thought he only needed, was himself and the music blasting into his ears as he waited for the day he died. The next thing he knew, he had friends and a purpose. People who cared about him and a reason to keep going, to keep trudging through life. Though the days were starting to blur together, he would always remember his interactions with the various friends he made over the year, his Social Links, as he continued to climb Tartarus, slowly but surely eliminating the various problems and angst that plagued his circle of friends.

Anyway, he shook his head. Another boring day in the life of Minato Arisato was starting to close so he needed to do this one last thing.

"Incubus, Mot, Pazuzu, Kubhamda and Attis. Are you sure you want to use these Personas for fusion?" Elizabeth asked. Minato only nodded. He really didn't care what this Persona would be, he just needed room for other ones and he really needed to update his-

Oh, who was he kidding? He just wanted to see everyone's face when he unleashed that damn thing upon the Shadows, especially Junpei and Mitsuru. He may not show many emotions, but deep inside was the soul of a prankster.

Anyway, after actually updating his list of Personas, he was about to leave when Igor called him back, "Before you leave, there seems to be a change in your destiny. Please sit down so you can see what may lie ahead." Igor said. Minato raised one of his eyebrows before shrugging. He could afford a few more minutes in the Velvet Room. He sat down as Igor laid out the tarot cards, "Let's see… the first card is…" He flipped over one of the cards, "The Death Arcana in the upright position. It represents the ending of one, but the beginning of another. It seems that your life will change drastically soon. And the next card is…" He then flipped another card, "The Lovers Arcana in the upright position. It represents relationships and choices. It seems your journey may be ending very soon but a new one will be beginning. From there, new bonds will be established as you travel down this new path, where at the end you may not be the same person that started the journey."

"Though your destiny has changed, the services of the Velvet Room will always be available to you." Elizabeth said as she bowed, "You have my word."

"Now, time is still moving forward, so it would be best if you return. Your friends will get worried." Igor suggested. Minato nodded before exiting the Velvet Room. He found the reading strange but thought nothing of it. If it happens, it happens. If his journey was ending soon, maybe it meant the Dark Hour would end sooner than he was expecting.

Or he dies and gets reincarnated or something.

"Why can't they be clearer…?" Minato muttered to himself as he made his way back to the dorm. He just wanted something to eat and then get some sleep.

(The Next Day)

(Morning)

Minato was having a weird dream. He was dreaming that he was falling into a black abyss that never seemed to end, with cards from a tarot deck falling with him. It wasn't strange though. Due to the whole Arcana symbolism that surrounded him and his life, he was expecting a tarot deck to show up eventually. The strange part, though, was that he also saw his friends in SEES falling with him, but they all seemed to be still asleep. For some reason or another everyone, even himself, were dressed in their uniforms. He really didn't have time to wonder why because suddenly the black abyss shattered like glass, revealing that they were high in the sky and falling fast. He noted that it was probably around 6 or 7 in the morning due to the position of the sun. Now, if it was anyone else, they'd probably be panicking or peeing themselves, but not him. He knew it was just a stupid dream, no matter how strange it was. He was going to be fine, wake up and go back to his daily routine of reinforcing his bonds and sleep.

Though, it did feel too real to be a dream…

"Whatever." He muttered to himself before falling back to sleep.

(Some Time Later…)

H...

Hey… ar… ou…

"Hey!" A voice was calling out to him, trying to wake him up, "Come on, wake up!"

'It's probably Yukari…' Minato thought before trying to go back to sleep, completely ignoring the fact that it was a completely different voice. It should be Saturday today so he had set his alarm clock to later in the day and he didn't have any plans...

Which got ruined as soon as water was splashed onto his face.

"You could've given me a few more minutes…" Minato groaned as he sat up. He slowly opened his eyes, only to see a middle-aged man in front of him. Then he noticed he wasn't in his bed. Rather, he was laying down on some grass. He looked around and saw that he was near a river and that the other members of SEES were around, but unconscious. He noted that everyone looked rather dirty, as though they've been travelling a dirt road for some time. He also noticed their armbands were missing. He looked down and saw he was in the same state. The middle-aged man helped Minato up as he looked around. He didn't recognize the area,

"Are you okay? You don't seem too good." The middle-aged man asked. Confused but calm, Minato nodded,

"I'm fine." Minato stated, "Just a little tired."

"That's understandable. It looks like you and your friends all been here since last night." The middle-aged man noted, "Speaking of your friends, you should wake them up. It's going to rain soon." Minato raised one of his eyebrows before looking up at the sky. It was grey and cloudy and he could already feel tiny droplets starting to fall. Minato nodded before going over to his teammates. He needed to wake them up fast before they got wet, so he decided to do the most efficient option,

"Hey Junpei! What are you doing with Yukari's panties!?" Minato called out, swearing he heard glass shattering as everyone's eyes shot open,

"WHAT THE HELL!? I KNEW IT! GIVE THEM BACK YOU PERVERT!" Yukari shouted out before tackling Junpei, who only just got up to defend himself, while everyone else were just getting up,

"OW! HEY! WAIT A MINUTE-AH-STOP IT!" Junpei shouted out as Yukari started beating on him, only to stop when she realized something,

"Hey, wait a minute, where are we?" She muttered as she got off Junpei while everyone else looked around,

"W-What the-How did we end up here?" Fuuka asked. Before anyone could say anything, it started to pour, soaking the members of SEES before they could even gather their bearings,

"Well. Shit." Shinjiro muttered. Minato, putting on his earphones, sighed as he knew today was going to be a drag.

(Police Station)

"Thank you." Mitsuru said as she accepted the cup of hot chocolate. The middle-aged man they met turned out to be a detective and brought them over to the Police Station to warm themselves. Though, there was the little problem of 10 people and a dog trying to get into a 5 seater, they managed not to die before they reach their destination. Mitsuru smiled at the police officer before turning to SEES, "Where are we?" Mitsuru asked in a low voice,

"How should we know? I'm just as lost as you." Akihiko said,

"I would have scanned the area, but my sensors are malfunctioning and therefore I cannot perform the task." Aigis stated, "I also cannot determine the time and date. It seems some of my systems may have received damage on the way here."

"Well, it definitely isn't Tatsumi Port Island, that's for sure." Junpei spoke up,

"Thank you for stating the obvious, Stupei." Yukari muttered, "The sign said that this is the Yasoinaba Police Station. Does 'Yasoinaba' ring a bell to anyone?" Everyone started thinking as they tried to figure out where they were,

"Um… I-I remember something about a white rabbit…" Ken said,

"I think it has an inn…?" Fuuka said with a grimace, "…Maybe?"

"Arisato, do you know anything about Yasoinaba?" Mitsuru asked. While the name seemed to be vaguely familiar, it didn't ring any bells to him. Maybe something in the police station would reveal some information to the place they were currently in. Minato looked around, before settling his eyes on a calendar that was put up behind the reception desk. He narrowed his eyes in order to check the date before responding to his friends,

"April 1st. Today is April 1st." Minato stated, causing everyone to gasp,

"W-Wait, that can't be right!" Yukari said before seeing the calendar, "It's only-"

"U-Uh, check it again." Junpei said nervously. Everyone's eyebrows rose as they looked at him in confusion,

"Hey, why do you sound so scared? It sounds like you've seen a ghost." Akihiko said,

"Just check the date." Deciding to end the confusion, Minato decided to read out the entire date,

"April 1st, 2011."

Suddenly, their world seemed to shatter around them as they realized one thing.

Last time they checked, it was 2009.

"Th-That's impossible." Mitsuru stated, shocked, "There is no way-"

"There's no way what?" The detective asked as he walked up to the group of teenagers, with someone else tagging along with him,

"We were just talking about who would win: Neo Featherman Red or Neo Featherman Blue." Minato quickly stated. It looks like he needed to keep everyone calm and make sure they could get through this without raising suspicion,

'I mean, who would believe a bunch of teenagers saying that they're from the past?' Minato thought,

"Oh, totally Neo Featherman Blue! He would destroy Red if he had the chance!" The other guy spoke up,

"Shut up Adachi." The detective said before focusing his attention to SEES, "Plus, everyone knows Red will destroy Blue. But enough joking around, we'd like to ask you all some questions."

"Wh-Why?" Fuuka stuttered out, obviously still processing the giant bombshell that just exploded,

"It won't be anything personal, just want to find out why all of you were sleeping outside." The detective explained, "Now, first off, what are your names? I'm sorry for not saying earlier but I'm Ryotaro Dojima and this is my partner Adachi Tohru."

"Hiya." Adachi said,

"U-Um…" Yukari muttered, looking nervous. What they said their names would be would probably cause something to happen, and Minato doubted it would be good. So, he decided to take the lead,

"My name is Orpheus." Minato said without thinking. The detectives didn't see it but the eyes of SEES widened as soon as they heard that,

"Orpheus? No last name?" Adachi said, finding it strange, "I think he's giving us an alias. Alright, what did you do, kid?"

"Adachi!" Dojima exclaimed before sighing, "I'm sorry. He won't stop acting like a rookie. But he is right about one thing. Why are you giving us an alias?"

"B-Because we're orphans!" Mitsuru suddenly said, causing everyone to stare at her. Quickly regaining her composure, she quickly started doing the only thing she could do right now.

Lie her ass off.

"Our 'parents'," She spat the word out as convincingly as she could, "Weren't very nice people. They are dead to us for all we care. We all ran away at young ages, with our youngest only running away recently. When we all met, we decided that our old names will forever be constant reminders of them so we all go by aliases to ensure our connection to 'them' is severed. From there, we travel the country, hoping to escape their grasp."

"Oh. Sorry." Dojima apologized, having seemingly fell for it, "So, you're not going to tell us your real names?"

"It would be for the best." Mitsuru said, amazed that this was working,

"Well, at least give us your aliases then." Dojima said. The members of SEES looked at each other before sighing,

"Io." Yukari said in a small voice,

"Hermes." Junpei said quietly,

"Penthesilea." Mitsuru stated,

"Polydeuces!" Akihiko called out,

"L-Lucia." Fuuka whispered out,

"Palladion." Aigis said. Dojima noted there was a slight robotic tone to her voice but thought nothing of it,

"…Castor." Shinjiro said, not liking this one bit,

"Nemesis." Ken muttered. After that Koromaru woofed,

"And he is Cerberus." Aigis said for Koromaru,

"And you named yourselves that as kids?" Dojima asked, looking rather skeptical,

"They're just names from a book we saw. Nothing more." Minato said,

"Alright. I'm just a little curious. I am a detective after all." Dojima said, "Next question…" He muttered as he pulled something out, "Explain this." He asked as he showed it to everyone.

It was one of their Evokers.

Minato stayed calm while the rest of SEES started to panicked. Minato knew they could easily explain why they had guns, but he seriously doubted they would be returned to them even if they were fake, "We use them for self defense. They used to be real guns, but they were broken so we modified them. Look." Minato explained before taking the gun, placing it against his head and pulling the trigger, "See. Nothing."

"Well, you don't mind if we keep these in the evidence locker then." Dojima said, "Inaba's crime rate has been next to non-existent lately and even though these are fake and you all seem to be pretty nice kids, I'm not taking any chances." Everyone apart from Shinjiro and Minato looked like they wanted to argue, but they knew that they were going to lose in the end. They all shook their heads. Anyway, after some more questions, they were set free as soon as the rain stopped,

"So, let's get everything straight. We're in some town in the middle of nowhere, 2 years in the future and with no idea how to return." Junpei said, "Oh, this is going to get confusing fast."

"Why? I'm already confused as it is!" Yukari exclaimed,

"Have you not read a time travel plot in your life!? There would be paradoxes, the butterfly effect, events that could cause the end of the world! Come on, Yuka-tan, we could be preventing the birth of the next Einstein or the person who cures cancer as we speak!"

"I think you're over-exaggerating…" Shinjiro muttered, "But he is right."

"I am?" Junpei said, surprised before putting on a winning smile, "I mean, I am!"

"Yeah, great work Ace Defective." Yukari mumbled to herself, "I'm sure we won't cause the world to end by stepping on a butterfly."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean we could be changing the future as we know it right now!" Junpei said before gasping, "Wait, what happens if we meet our future selves!? Oh crap! We could be written out of existence!"

"Unless we don't have future selves." Fuuka pointed out, causing some confusion,

"Yamagishi… explain." Mitsuru ordered hesitantly,

"Well… it's hard to explain but there's a theory about stable time loops. That we have already changed the future and the following events will play out as if nothing happened. For example, I pick up a ball and go back in time. I drop the ball and leave. My past self will pick up the ball I dropped, travel through time and drop the ball for the next iteration to pick up and so on."

"My head hurts already." Akihiko groaned,

"So wait, so when you said we might not have future selves, you mean…" Yukari said, not liking the answer in her head,

"Yes. If we don't have future selves, it means we're here permanently." Fuuka stated grimly. SEES stood in silence as they processed the chance that they won't come back to their time. As they slowly realized that everything they left behind might go unsolved, Minato only sighed as he looked up as the now blue sky. He had a feeling that it wasn't the end. Rather, it was a new beginning. He wasn't sure about what was going to happen or how they would go back but he knew one thing,

"…The future sucks."

Save Game… Quit!

Whew! Done! I really need to stop releasing new fics.

UknownHero signing off, my friends!


	2. Chapter 2: Cross of Fates

What's up everyone! UknownHero here and welcome to another chapter of Time To Make History! So far, I have a lot of interesting ideas that I'm not sure a lot of people will like but in my head make the story more interesting. Eh, whatever. Let's do this.

Load Game… Start!

Chapter 2: Cross of Fates

(Afternoon 4/11)

Minato stared up at the ceiling, bored out of his mind, listening to his music while laying down on his futon and waiting for night to fall. Everyone else were either working or exploring the town, while he suddenly got a headache and decided to just laid around the room, "10 days huh?" Minato muttered to himself before sighing. It was still so surreal to him. Ending up two years in the future without any idea how they got there. When the shock finally wore off, it hit them they had nowhere to sleep, no support from the Kirijo Group, no allies, friends, anyone that could help them survive long enough to get their bearings straight.

They were basically alone in the town.

Of course, everyone had checked their wallets for money and conveniently enough, Minato still had his wallet flushed with cash from exploring Tartarus. He remembered how all of that went away the next day.

(Daytime 4/2)

"Ugh… why do we have to go back to school…" Junpei groaned. They had all went to some place called Aiya to get something to eat. Unfortunately, they couldn't bring Koromaru in but the owner was nice enough to give him a beef bowl, "I thought we were celebrating! The Dark Hour didn't happen last night! Doesn't that mean we eventually go back and stop it!?"

"Maybe, but that doesn't mean we should let our education suffer." Mitsuru reasoned, "We don't know how long we'll be here, and for all we know someone else may have filled in for us in our absence and stopped it themselves. But…" She then raised a glass of water, "At least we have a better future to look forward to after this mess. To the end of the Dark Hour!"

"To the end of the Dark Hour!" The other members of SEES called out before everyone took a swig of their drinks,

"I just can't believe it…" Yukari muttered to herself before laughing a little, "We may have actually done it!"

"Don't let it get to your head though." Shinjiro spoke up, "We don't know what we did to actually stop it, and let's not forget we still have the whole future selves thing. Mi-Orpheus, what do you think?" Everyone else were still getting used to the aliases they made up, so it was going to take some time,

"Well, we could easily find out if we look on the internet." Minato suggested, pausing from his beef bowl, "I'm sure at least we can find one of us."

"Er… I don't think that's a good idea." Junpei said,

"What do you mean? I'm sure knowing where we'll be going won't hurt." Akihiko said, "Hey! You think I become a wrestling champ in the future?"

"I would like to know too…" Ken said quietly before looking at Shinjiro for a second before going back to his food,

"I mean it's not a good idea to know about the future." Junpei replied, "It's pretty common in a lot of time travel movies. Someone goes back to past somehow to change the future. They do and they make it worse. Eventually, everything gets reset and it's like nothing ever happened!"

"There are some stories where the main character makes the future better…" Fuuka pointed out, "But Jun-er… I mean Hermes is right. If we find out anything about ourselves, we might be preventing our past selves from ending the Dark Hour. For now, we focus on the present and more importantly, getting back to own time. Speaking of the present, Ai-um, Palladion. Have calculated how much it will cost and how long our funds will last?"

"After calculating tuition fees to Yasogami High, Nemesis-san's admission to Inaba Elementary, new uniforms for said schools, repairs for our current clothes, the week's rent in the Amagi Inn for two rooms, food, clothes, Io-san's beauty products, and other miscellaneous items…" Aigis reported, as everyone leaned in as they waited in anticipation for the answer to how long they'll survive in Inaba, "We will be left with… 1 yen after 3 weeks. Or 21 days."

A silence quickly fell over the restaurant the atmosphere suddenly dropped a few degrees.

"…Would it be a bad time to admit I can't feel my Personas?" Minato spoke up.

(Evening 4/11)

Minato sighed as he closed his eyes, trying to at least feel his original Persona, Orpheus. But, just like every other time, he couldn't. Well, it was more like he could feel him somewhere in his psyche, but he was faint, almost completely gone from his mind. The others checked too after he made his announcement and discovered that they couldn't feel their own Personas as well. Panic started to flood the group but they quickly calmed down. It was unlikely they would encounter anymore Shadows since the Dark Hour now no longer exists and they couldn't even summon them anyway. Their Evokers were still in the hands of the police and they doubted they would see them again until they returned to 2009. Anyway, it was now night and the others were coming back soon. It was boys in one room, girls in the other. Though, the paparazzi hanging around was annoying, it was the only place they could afford to stay at and the hot springs weren't bad too. Minato then realized how tired he was, and his headache wasn't getting any better, so he decided to sleep early tonight. Anyway, their first day at school was tomorrow and he didn't want to run in late. So, he closed his eyes and did what he was born to do.

Sleep.

(Dream)

Fog.

That's what all he could see.

Minato groaned as he stood up and looked around. Everything seems to be a little blurry and his headache apparently transferred over into the dream, along with his Gekkoukan uniform. Suddenly, he felt a presence behind him. He turned around, only to see a silhouette of someone, covered in what looked like static. It was just a blob to him but for some reason it was smiling softly. Suddenly, there was a ringing in his ear. He clutched his head in pain as he heard a voice.

 _You will know when the time comes…_

"Hey, are you all right?" A voice from behind Minato asked. Minato heart stopped for one second before he slowly turned around, only seeing a boy around his age with grey hair holding out his hand, "What are you doing here?"

"I should say the same to you." Minato replied as the boy with grey hair helped him up, "Where are we…?"

"I'm not sure…" The boy answered before looking forward along the road built by red blocks, "But all we can do now is proceed forward." Minato turned around and saw that the path ended behind them, so he nodded and walked along the path with the boy in silence, "You mind telling me your name?"

"Minato." Minato replied, "You?"

"Yu." The boy with grey hair answered. It took a minute for Minato to realize that was his name before proceeding forward. Suddenly, there was a ringing in his ear again.

 _Do you seek the truth?_

Both Minato and Yu shook their heads as they heard the voice, "That was a different person…" Minato muttered to himself,

"Hm?" Yu said with confusion, "What do you mean?"

"Nothing." Minato answered, deciding to keep it to himself, "But… you heard that voice too, right?"

"Yeah…" Yu said before looking ahead,

"Let's keep going." Minato said before walking forward. This dream was weird, but then again his whole life was weird to begin with. Something told him this was more than a dream, and he knew Yu knew that too. They kept walking forward until they heard the voice again,

 _If it's the truth you desire, come and find me…_

"That voice again…" Yu muttered as he shook his head, "It's getting clearer…"

"Yeah, but I can't even tell if it's a man or a woman…" Minato said, "But I have a feeling this person is just ahead."

"Well, let's see who it is." Yu said as they continued forward. Eventually, they came across some sort of red and black entrance of some kind. They could clearly feel a presence beyond it, almost as if it was calling out to them. Minato and Yu looked at each other before nodding. Yu placed his hand on the door, causing the entrance to open up. Suddenly, they were blinded by light coming from it. Next thing they knew, they were in some sort of empty space with someone in front of them, but whoever was there was barely visible due to the fog. Look down and saw they had weapons in their hands. A short sword for Minato and a katana about the size of a person for Yu. It looked like it was a bit too heavy for him but they both ignore it and quickly went into battle stances, feeling that whoever was in front of them was a hostile.

 _So… You two are the ones pursuing me… I expected less… Hmhmhm... But try all you like..._

"I will." Minato replied before charging at the person, slashing at him. He was sure he missed but he felt the blade of his weapon scratch it, 'Damn it, I can barely see anything.' Minato thought as he jumped back, letting Yu take a swing at it,

"Who are you!?" Yu called out as he swung his katana, the blade barely scratching the figure in front of them.

 _Hmmm... It seems that you can see a little, despite the fog..._

"I don't think it's in the mood for talking." Minato said. Yu didn't reply as he felt something. Yu closed his eyes before seeing a blank card engulfed in blue flames float down from the heavens and into his hand. Minato could stare as he saw some sort of energy emit from Yu,

"Zio." Yu whispered out before crushing the card. Minato eyes' widened as he saw something appear and summoned lightning upon whoever was there,

'A… Persona-user…?' Minato thought before he felt something calling to him. He reactively went to his holster, only to find that there was something in it. He pulled it out and looked at it. He could barely see his nose but it felt like it was a gun. It felt weird to hold in his hand but it felt like a gun.

"Close enough." He muttered as he pressed the gun against his head, closed his eyes and said the first that came into his mind, "Agi." Minato whispered out as he pulled the trigger. The familiar drain of his Persona summoning filled his body as a silhouette appeared behind him and fired out a fireball at the person. It felt like it was Orpheus, but there was something that was preventing him from seeing whenever or not it was his initial Persona.

 _I see… Indeed... That is very interesting information..._

'What is it planning…?' Minato and Yu thought before summoning their Personas to Cleave through whoever it was, but from the looks of it, it barely felt their attacks.

 _But... You will not catch me so easily... If what you seek is "truth," then your search will be even harder..._

Suddenly, the area started to become covered in an even thicker fog, "Damn, I can't even see the guy now." Yu swore as he decided to forgo using whatever this power was and attack it with his katana. He took a swing, but he missed. He quickly balanced himself before he fell and quickly jumped back,

"This fog is too thick… I can't even see my own body." Minato said as he tried fan the fog away with his sword, but found out quickly that it was futile.

 _Everyone sees what they want to... And the fog only deepens... Will we meet again...? At a place other than here... Hmhm... I look forward to it..._

"Damn it." Minato said in frustration as the fog thickened further. Suddenly, he was hit with a wave of fatigue. He was starting to lose consciousness. Before he could even see if Yu was falling asleep too, he collapsed as he let darkness engulf him.

(4/12 Morning)

Minato could only groan as he and the rest of SEES (apart from Koromaru, who was living at the shrine since the Amagi Inn didn't allow pets, Ken, who went the other way to Inaba Elementary, and Shinjiro) made their way to Yasogami High. They had brought their umbrellas since it was raining today. Minato was still tired from the dream, and he barely could remember it now. He shook his head, trying to get rid of the cobwebs and tried to stay awake until at least homeroom, "Hey, are okay?" Akihiko asked, worried for the Leader, "You didn't eat much at breakfast. You want a protein bar?"

"No." Minatio replied flatly, "I'm just tired. I'll be fine sooner or later."

"Too bad you turned in early. You should've seen the manager's last night." Junpei said, "And she goes to Yasogami! How awesome is that? Ah, but those futile pursuits are in the past. I have Chidorita to think about after all."

"You do realize there's a chance she breaks up with you." Yukari jokingly pointed out, "I mean, it is the future. Anything could've happen."

"Oh come on. I'm sure Chidori won't do that." Junpei replied with a confident smiled before looking worried for a second, "That won't happen, right?"

"It'll be fine Junpei." Minato reassured him, "Just focus on what's happening now. Chidori can wait."

"R-Right. Yeah." Junpei breathed out, "Okay. Chidori can wait. Right now we focus on returning to the past… however and whenever the hell that is…"

"Part-time jobs are going to be up on the 23rd. I say we all take a job. Hopefully with our combined money, we'll be able to make through at least a few more weeks." Mitsuru spoke up,

"But how long are we going to stay exactly? Palladion said that we only have 10 days worth of funds left." Fuuka pointed out, "At this rate, some of us might need to sleep on benches for a while."

"We could always work at Junes." Junpei suggested,

"Don't the townspeople _hate_ Junes?" Yukari pointed out, "If we work there, I don't think we'll be able to make a lot of friends in Yasogami."

"Yeah. And if we're close enough to our friends, we might be able to sleepover at their places." Minato said, "We can't live off every paycheck after all." They winced a little at using their friends for personal gain but it would be nice to not have to share a room with several other people. Minato only yawned,

"My school's this way. Bye." Minato shook his head as he overheard a little girl. Out of curiosity, he looked over, only for time to slow down.

It was him.

In reality, it was a split second, but in their minds it was an eternity. They looked into each other's eyes before everything returned to normal, "Hey, you know him?" Junpei asked, wondering why his best friend looked surprised for a moment after seeing a boy with grey hair,

"No." Minato lied, "No, I don't think so. Let's just get to school." Minato said tiredly as they continued walking. He decided to have some small talk with Junpei to get his mind off of whatever the hell he experienced last night. But it was still at the back of his mind considering that Yu was walking in the same route as them. Minato tried to ignore him and kept talking with Junpei, until they hit the intersection in front of the school where he, Junpei and Yu saw a guy with headphones on his bike while holding onto an umbrella go pass them,

"Whoaaaa…!" The biking student called out before there was a large crash. Junpei quickly cupped his nads as he saw the pain the guy was in, "Ngh… Urrrrghhh…"

"That looked painful." Minato muttered, his stare uncaring for the boy's pain,

"We should leave him be." Yu suggested before he continued walking towards the school. Minato just shrugged and followed Yu. Junpei looked at the pained student for a few more seconds before deciding to follow in the footsteps of the others and ran off. Soon, they all arrived at Yasogami High,

"Well, this is it." Yukari said as she stared at the school. She couldn't help but compare it to Gekkoukan and how large it was. It was going to take some getting used to living in the sticks,

"Hey, are you transfers here?" Yu asked,

"You could say that." Minato replied, "My name is Orpheus by the way." Minato said as he held out his hand. He noticed Yu frowning for a second before smiling gently and shaking it,

"Yu. Yu Narukami." Yu introduced himself, "I'm a transfer student too. We should all head over to the faculty office to see what classes we're in."

"O-Okay." Fuuka said, wondering how their lives as students of Yasogami would go. Minato looked at the school building on last time before putting on his headphones. He knew it wasn't going to be another boring year like all the previous year preceding his stay at Gekkoukan, but for now he was going make the most of his time.

He was going to make the most of his time before all hell broke loose.

(A few minutes later)

It was pretty lively in the class of 2-2. Students were getting to know each other or catch up over what had happened over the school break. It seemed to be business as usual for the students of Yasogami, talking about the newest piece of gossip to the latest story circulating around the rumour mill; it seemed that it was going to be another year. And it would've been, if a couple of transfer students didn't arrive to shake things up, "Talk about bad luck…" A student sitting down groaned, "The homeroom teacher here is Morooka, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's King Moron alright..." His friend said, "We get to enjoy his long-ass sermons every day for a whole year..."

"Hey you guys, I heard there's going to be a transfer student from the city in this class." A female student spoke up, "Actually, there are several new transfer students coming here. Haven't you noticed that there are a few more desks around?"

"I heard about them." The sitting student said, "They're like… hobos, right? I heard they were last minute too. So, what's the guy to girl ratio?" As the three students continued to talk to each other about the new transfers, a girl with short, dyed-brown hair raised one of her eyebrows when she heard about the fact,

"A transfer student from the city…" Chie muttered to herself, "Just like you, huh, Yosuke?" She looked over to him behind her, only to see he looked like he was in pain, "...Huh? You look dead today."

"Yeah, um... I don't wanna talk about it..." Yosuke groaned out. His balls still hurt from the crash, and no one even bothered to help him. He mentally chuckled humourlessly, 'This is what I get for being the Junes kid…'

"What's with him?" Chie asked her raven-haired friend,

"Who knows?" Yukiko replied,

"Hey, you know anything about those transfer students?" Chie had to ask,

"Not really. But they are staying at the inn." Yukiko answered, "5 guys and 4 girls, one of them is a little boy. They tried to get a dog in but pets aren't allowed."

"Really!? They're staying at the inn?" Chie exclaimed, surprised, "What are they like?" Yukiko was about to answer when their horrible homeroom teacher entered the classroom, along with several other students. Everyone quickly noticed that they weren't familiar to them,

"Awright, shut you traps!" King Moron shouted out, "I'm Kinshiro Morooka, your homeroom teacher from today forward! First things first! Just 'cause it's spring doesn't mean you can swoon over each other like love-struck baboons. Long as I'm around, you students are going to be pure as the driven snow!" He declared. Minato couldn't help but wince. Only ten seconds after meeting the guy and he already hates him. Well, at least Junpei, Aigis, Yukari and Fuuka were with him, "Now I hate wasting my time, but I'd better introduce these transfer students. This sad sack's been thrown from the big city out to the middle of nowhere like yesterday's garbage and these little shits aren't even gonna tell us their real names! They caused a lotta trouble for the school thanks to their late admissions so now I gotta deal with them!" King Moron growled before turning to Yu and Minato, "Okay, two at a time. And remember! They're just as much of a loser here as they were in the city and on the streets, so you girls better not get any ideas about hitting on 'em! Tell 'em your name, kids, and make it quick."

"…You calling me a loser, Moron?" Yu retorted with a smirk, feeling courageous today,

"Hm? Sorry, you have to speak up. I don't care enough to listen to your bullshit." Minato replied flatly without a single twitch in his expression. Their responses caused everyone in the class gasp and stare in awe at how ballsy the new transfers were while King Moron's eye just twitched in extreme annoyance,

"Holy crap, dude!" Junpei said, surprised at Minato's actions while Yukari and Fuuka's jaws dropped,

"Is this is what they call a 'roast'?" Aigis wondered out loud,

"That's it!" King Moron yelled out, "You two are on my _shittiest_ shit list! Effective immediately!"

"Oh, and is that supposed to scare us?" Minato taunted. That's when Morooka had enough and decided to slap to the two, only for Yu to catch his hand and pull it into a handshake,

"Yu Narukami. Nice to meet you, Mr. Morooka." Yu greeted,

"My name is Orpheus. Please take care of us, Morooka-sensei." Minato said as he bowed in mock respect. King Moron only growled and took back his hand from Yu's (admittingly firm) grip,

"Now listen up! This town is miles away from your big city of perverts and assholes, in more ways than one. You better not even think of getting involved with the girls here, let alone abusing them! But what do I know... it's not like the old days. Even here, kids grow up so damn fast. Every time I turn my back, you're fooling around on those damn phones, checking your life-journals and your my-places..." Kinshiro Morooka then went on and on about things that they really didn't care about, as the other students just stared in awe of Yu Narukami and Minato "Orpheus" Arisato,

"Ehehehe…" Yukari chuckled nervously, "Well, since we haven't introduced ourselves yet, I'm I-Io. And the ones next to me are Lucia, Palladion and Hermes."

"Hey, why introduce me last?" Junpei complained before turning to the class, "Hermes' the name, and don't you forget it."

"I'm Lucia." Fuuka said with a blush on her face, "It-It's nice to meet you all!"

"And I am Palladion." Aigis said as she bowed, "I hope we can all be well acquainted." King Moron didn't pay attention to any of that as he continued ranting until a student raised her hand up,

"Excuse me! Is it okay if one of the transfer students sit here?" Chie asked, referring to the empty seat right next to her,

"Huh? Yeah, sure. Ya hear that? One of you little shits take it that seat over there. Hurry up and siddown already!" King Moron ordered. Yu decided to take the seat. The others took the left over seats around the classroom. It ended up with Yukari being alone in one row while Minato, Junpei, Aigis and Fuuka were together on the other side of the classroom,

"Sucks to be the transfer students, ending up in King Moron's class on the first morning here..." A male student Yu and Minato overheard said, "What were they thinking about pissing him off."

"Yeah, he won't think twice about suspending you if you get on his bad side. Then again, we're all in the same boat..." a whiny female student pointed out, "But still, what did was kinda cool…"

"I know right! You think they'll hang out with us?"

"I can't believe you did that dude!" Junpei whispered to Minato, "I don't even care why you did that, thanks for taking that dick down a peg."

"Whatever." Minato mumbled in response while looking over at Yu, who was talking to a girl in a green jacket,

"I think the term for what you have done is having 'testicles of steel'." Aigis said,

"Please stop listening to Junpei, Palladion-san…" Fuuka said. Minato just closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He fell asleep wondering if he'll fit just like he did in Gekkoukan.

(Afterschool 4/12)

"…That's all for today. Normal lectures will start tomorrow." King Moron announced as the bell rang. Students were starting to pack up their stuff as Minato approached Yu,

"So…" Minato started,

"Yeah…" Yu replied, "Are you going to explain to me-" Yu cut off as an announcement was made over the intercom,

"Attention, all teachers. Please report immediately to the Faculty Office for a brief staff meeting. All students must return to their classrooms and are not to leave the school until further notice."

"Hrnh. You heard the announcement. Don't go anywhere until you hear otherwise." King Moron said as he left the classroom. There some confusion among the school, but almost all the students obeyed and stayed where they were. Minato wondered what was going on when Yukari approached him,

"This guy is seriously getting on my nerves…" Yukari said before some redness started to fill her cheeks, "S-So, um… after this, we-we-we haven't hu-h-hung out in a l-long time s-s-so maybe…" Yukari was then interrupted by the sounds of police sirens, "Hm? What the…"

"Hey, did that sound kinda close?" Junpei noted, "Did something happen?" Junpei approached a window and tried to see, but it was too foggy to see anything, "Damn…"

"Hm… I heard around town that after it rains for a couple of days, it gets foggy…" Fuuka muttered to herself, "I wonder why…?"

"I just when I was thinking this was a nice town…" Minato muttered before going back to Yu,

"So, 'Orpheus' huh?" Yu said with a small smirk, "Mind explaining which one's the fake name?"

"The second one." Minato answered a little cryptically, "But do you mind not mentioning it. We're kinda…"

"Don't worry _Orpheus_. Your secret's safe with me." Yu promised,

"Thanks." Minato said just as a student approached a girl in red,

"H-Hey, Yukiko-san. Mind if I ask you something…?" A rumor-loving student asked, "Is it true that announcer's staying at your family's inn?"

"I can't discuss such things." Yukiko answered, looking a little down,

"Y-Yeah, I guess not." The rumor-loving student said awkwardly before returning to his group of friends. Chie just sighed as she started to get impatient,

"Sheesh, how much longer is this gonna take?" Chie said,

"There's no telling." Yukiko said. She was starting to feel impatient too,

"I shoulda left before the announcement came on..." Chie muttered before remembering something, "By the way, didja try what I told you the other day? You know... That thing about rainy nights..."

" Oh... No, not yet. Sorry." Yukiko apologized. Ever since the announcer came, she had been too busy to check or even remember. And now she was missing all of a sudden…

"Ahhh, that's okay. It's just, I heard a guy in the class next door yell something like, 'My soulmate is Yamano, the announcer!'" Chie explained, which Minato overheard,

'"Yamano"? That announcer all over the news lately?' Minato thought, 'What in the world exactly make him think that? Ugh, probably just delusional.'

"Hey. Mina-er, Orpheus-kun, d-do wanna hang out around today?" Yukari asked, trying to get her leader's attention,

"Oh. Uh, sorry. I still have this killer headache and I need to do something." Minato answered regretfully, "I'm going back to the inn to rest."

"Oh…" Yukari said, looking rather sad before smiling gently, "Well, I hope it gets better soon."

"I hope so too." Minato said, giving Yukari a smile before another announcement was made,

"Attention, all students. There has been an incident inside the school district. Police officers have been dispatched around the School Zone. Please stay calm and contact your parents or guardians as soon as possible, and quickly leave the school grounds. Do not disturb the police officers. Head directly home."

"Finally!" Junpei breathed out as he got his things as students were starting to leave, "Me, Lucia, Palladion and Io are gonna see Mit-dammit-Penthesilea-senpai and Polydeuces-senpai. Wanna come with?"

"Later. I still have some things to do. I'll see you guys at the inn." Minato said,

"Alright. See ya!" Junpei said before heading out with Fuuka and Aigis in tow. Minato then turned his attention to Yu, who just finished packing up his things,

"Hey, are you two going home by yourselves?" Chie asked as she and Yukiko walked up to Minato and Yu, "Why don't you come with us? Oh, nearly forgot! I'm Chie Satonaka. You know, I sit next to Yu, right?"

"Of course." Yu and Minato answered,

"Whoa… jinx!" Chie giggled out,

"I'm Yu Narukami. And this is Orpheus." Yu introduced as he chuckled a little as well,

"Hi." Minato greeted,

"That's not your real name right?" Chie asked. Minato nodded, "Are you gonna tell us what your real name is?" Minato shook his head in response, "Oh well, I was kinda expecting that but nice to meet you two!" She then pointed at the girl next to her, "This is Yukiko Amagi."

"Oh, nice to meet both of you." Yukiko said, "I'm sorry that this is so sudden..."

"C'mon, don't apologize like that. It makes me look like I got no upbringing. I just wanted to ask some stuff. Really, that's all." Chie said,

"Okay. Shoot." Yu said as he, Minato and the girls started heading for the exit, only to be blocked by Yosuke, who was holding a DVD case,

"Uh, umm, Miss Satonaka…?" The bleak-looking student said nervously, "This was really awesome. Like, the way they moved was just amazing to see..."

"You broke it, didn't you?" Minato said flat out, surprising the others,

"Huh!? What!? YES! NO! I mean-" Yosuke then just shoved the DVD case into Chie's hands, "J-Just have mercy on me until my next paycheck! See ya!" Chie quickly snapped out of her stupor and saw Yosuke trying to make a hasty exit,

"Hey! Stop right there! What the hell did you do to my DVD!?" Chie shouted out before running after Yosuke. There was a large **WHAM** as Minato, Yu and strangely enough Junpei (who was upstairs) winced at Chie's choice of target. They walked over just as Chie opened the DVD case,

"What the-He was right! I can't believe this! It's completely cracked!" Chie cried out in anguish, "My _Trial of the Dragon_...!"

"I think mine's cracked too... C-Critical hit to the nads..." Yosuke groaned out as he cupped his nads. He was sure by now his chance of having children were starting to diminish,

"A-Are you all right?" Yukiko asked out of worry,

"Oh, Yukiko-san... Are you worried about me...?" Yosuke asked with hope in his voice,

"He's fine, Yukiko. Let's ditch him and go home." Chie said as she put her now useless copy of Trial of the Dragon into her bag and stomped out of the room, with Yukiko following her soon after. Yu and Minato looked at Yosuke, still clearly in pain,

"He looks like he's in a lot of pain." Yu commented,

"We should leave him be." Minato suggested before following the girls. Yu looked at Yosuke for a couple more seconds before leaving as well.

(Outside the Front Gate)

Minato stayed quiet while Yu, Chie and Yukiko talked. That headache from last night wasn't going away anytime soon. He wondered if he was sick from all the rain lately, "So, how was life in the city, Narukami?" Chie asked, "I bet it's a bit of a shock seeing how different it is here."

"Yeah. I never really been out of Inaba so it would be nice to know…" Yukiko muttered before looking at Minato, "How about you, Orpheus-san? Where did you live before you came to Inaba?"

"Er…" Minato started before a student in different uniform approached Yukiko. He noted his eyes had a beautiful shade of rape within them. Joking aside he noticed how it looked a little… empty,

"You're Yuki, right? Y-You want to go somewhere?" The strange student asked,

"What...? Wh-Who are you?" Yukiko said, wondering what was happening. Minato then started hearing students talking about the scene in front of him,

"What's up with him? What school's he from?"

"Never mind that, he's going for Yukiko-san? Man, you'd think he'd at least wait until she's alone to make his move..."

"I bet you a can of TaP he gets knocked out."

"No bet. Haven't you heard how difficult the Amagi Challenge is?"

"Is this common?" Minato asked Chie, who only sighed,

"Oh yeah. Apparently, the 'Amagi Challenge' is some stupid rite of passage for every boy from here to Tokyo to ask Yukiko out." Chie groaned, "I'm still wondering how this happened. Wait, you're not planning to ask, are you?" Minato's mind paused for a moment, remembered every single girl he kissed to max out their Social Links, and quietly shook his head. He was _not_ adding another girl to that problem,

"Um, s-so... Are you coming or not?" The strange student asked again,

"I-I'm not going..." Yukiko answered. The guy looked frustrated and angry all of a sudden,

"…Fine!" He growled out before stomping away, "Stupid bitch…"

"Wh-What did he want from me…?" Yukiko wondered out loud, causing Yu and Minato to look at her weirdly,

"What did he want...? Obviously, he was asking you out on a date." Chie answered,

"Huh? Really…?" Yukiko asked, surprised. Minato wondered for a second if this was why the Amagi Challenge was so hard,

"You really had no clue? Sheesh..." Chie mumbled out, "But then again, that was way over the top. It was creepy how he called you Yuki all of a sudden."

"His eyes did have a beautiful shade of rape…" Yu said suddenly,

"H-Huh? Wh-Wh-Wh-What!?" Yukiko exclaimed as she started to panic,

"Wh-Where the hell did that come from!?" Chie said in surprise,

"I was thinking the same thing." Minato said off-handedly, causing the girls to freak out more,

"Yo, Yukiko-san." Yosuke said as he walked up the group, "Turned down another lovelorn fool, huh? And what are you guys freaking out about…?"

"Oh, nothing." Yu answered,

"E-Er… yeah…" Chie said, deciding to forget about Yu and Minato's comment,

"Oh, okay." Yosuke said as he looked down the road where the kid ran down, "But man, you're cruel… You got me the same way last year."

"I don't recall doing that." Yukiko admitted, trying to remember the attempt,

"Whoa, you serious? So then, you wanna hang out sometime?!" Yosuke asked with hope in his voice,

"…I'd rather not." Yukiko said flat out. Yosuke only sighed,

" That'll teach me to get my hopes up..." Yosuke said sadly, "Anyways, you two better not pick on the transfers student too much." Yosuke called out as he biked off,

"We're just curious, is all!" Chie called back,

"U-Um, I'm sorry for dragging you into this…" Yukiko apologized,

"You know. I really don't care." Minato said, "Let's just go."

"Um, yeah. Orpheus is right. People are starting to stare…" Chie said. With that said, they all started walking away from the school, making small talk along the way.

(Some time later…)

"Ah… so you came here because of your parents' job." Chie said as they went down Samegawa Floodplain, "Haha, I thought it was something way more serious."

"And you, Orpheus…" Yukiko said, looking sorry, "About your parents and the fact you abandoned your name…"

"Stop it. I'm over it." Minato replied, going off a modified answer to whenever someone talks about his parents, "It was a long time ago. But I have no intention of returning."

"Still, I find it strange you're able to afford two rooms at the inn and to attend Yasogami." Chie said, "Where did you get all that money?"

"It's probably best if you don't know." Minato answered. The girls decided to leave it at that and return the conversation to about Yu,

"There really is nothing here, huh?" Chie muttered, "That's what makes it nice, but there is nothing much we can show to people from outside. Though, there is something from Mt. Yasogami... I think our dyed clothes or pottery or something is kinda famous."

"Apart from the constant rain and fog?" Yu pointed out,

"That's only been happening recently…" Chie said before remembering who her best friend is, "Oh wait, and there's the Amagi Inn! Yukiko's family runs it. It's the pride of Inaba!"

"Huh? It's...just an old inn." Yukiko said. While most would write it off as her being modest, Minato and Yu were vaguely aware that there was something more to that,

"No way, it's been in all sorts of magazines as a hidden treasure." Chie said excitedly, "It's a great inn! It's been going for generations, and Yukiko here is going to take over someday. Their inn actually attracts a lot of visitors to Inaba. It pretty much keeps this town going."

"...I don't think that's entirely true." Yukiko said quietly,

"Oh come on! Orpheus, you're staying there, right? Come on, is it great or is it great?" Chie asked,

"It's nice but…" Minato answered, but was interrupted by Chie,

"See! Hey, I bet these think you're cute, Yukiko." Chie said,

"H-Hey, wait a minute…" Yukiko started,

"I think she's cute, yeah." Yu answered honestly,

"Not really." Minato said flatly, stunning Yukiko,

"Hah! I kne-wait, what did you just say?" Chie asked, now thoroughly confused,

"I'm just saying I don't really find her to be my type." Minato admitted, "Plus, my girlfriend would probably kill me…"

"You have a girlfriend?" Yukiko asked, eye wide, "Who is it?"

"Er…" Minato really didn't want anyone to know, at least not yet, so he decided to make up a name, "Eurydice."

"Another alias, huh?" Chie sighed before smiling, "Oh well. Everyone has their tastes. She's really popular at school, but she's never had a boyfriend. Kinda weird, huh?"

"C-Come on, stop it. Y-You shouldn't believe that, okay? It's not true that I'm popular or that I've never had a boyfriend!" Yukiko said frantically, her face turning red, which only deepened when she realized what she just said, "Wait, n-no! What I meant to say was; I don't need a boyfriend! Geez... Chie!"

"Hahaha! Sorry, I'm sorry. But this is our chance to talk to someone from the big city, and you barely said a word! You've only been talking to the man with a million names after all. Huh, that sounds like a really cool title for a kung-fu master..." Chie muttered before they heard a commotion happening just ahead of them, "Hey, what's that?" They all ran up to the crowd that was starting to gather around what looked like a crime scene. People were talking about what had happened; throwing around theories and speculation, but then there was the one thing that caused their hearts to stop,

"Well, I think it's terrifying. I can't believe a dead body showed up around here..." A housewife said,

"Wait... What did she just say? A dead body!?" Chie said, not believing something like this was happening,

"That would explain the sirens from earlier…" Minato muttered to himself, "And did they say something about 'taking it down'…?"

"Hey, what're you doing here?" Both Yu and Minato recognized the voice calling out at them. They turned their heads and saw Dojima walking up to them,

"We're just passing by." Yu quickly answered. Dojima could only pinch the bridge of his nose,

"Huh...I should have figured that'd happen." He muttered under his breath, "That damn principal. We told him not to let them through here..."

"...You know this guy, Narukami?" Chie asked,

"I actually know both of these boys." Dojima said, "I'm Detective Dojima, Yu's guardian. Uhh... Well, how should I say this... I hope you get along with him. And I'm the one who found Orpheus and his friends at the riverbank. Hey, how are you guys going by the way?"

"We're doing fine." Minato answered,

"Good to hear." Dojima said as he nodded at him, "You four really ought to stop wandering around and head straight home though." Just as he finished saying that, Adachi came running pass them and vomiting in a nearby bush, causing Dojima to sigh at his partner's antics, "Adachi! How long are you going to act like a rookie? You want to be sent back to central office!?"

"I-I'm sorry... Nngh..." Adachi groaned out. Dojima couldn't help but sigh again,

"Go wash your face. We're gonna go around and gather information!" Dojima ordered. Adachi quickly obeyed and follow Dojima back into the crime scene,

"Was this what that announcement was about...?" Chie asked, trying to wrap her head around the situation,

"More than likely, yes." Yu answered,

"What do they mean... it was hanging from the antenna...?" Yukiko said, slightly scared,

"It is strange for a body to show up, but we aren't detectives." Minato reminded everyone, "Let's just follow Detective Dojima's orders and get out of here."

"Or-Orpheus is right." Chie said, "Yeah. Yukiko, why don't we go to Junes some other time?"

"Good idea…" Yukiko replied, "I'll be waiting at the bus stop, Orpheus. I'll meet you there?"

"Sure." Minato answered with a nod as Yukiko left,

"Alright then, I guess that's my cue to leave. Starting tomorrow, guys, let's do our best!" Chie said, with the boys responding with a nod as she left,

"I'll see around, Yu." Minato said as he started to leave,

"Back at you Minato." Yu replied. Minato gave him a small nod before heading to the bus stop where Yukiko was waiting at.

(Evening 4/12)

"We're back!" Akihiko announced as the guys went into the room,

"Hey." Minato greeted lazily as he ate some steak skewers he got on his back to the inn,

"Well, Yasogami seems nice." Junpei said as he jumped into his futon, "Apart from our homeroom teacher, I guess this place isn't so bad. So, anything happen on the way home?"

"Nothing. Just a dead body hanging from an antenna." Minato replied, feeling really tired,

"Oh cool." Junpei said before realizing what Minato just said, "Wait, what?"

"Huh!? Did you just say d-dead body!?" Ken exclaimed, "What happened!? Wait, did you see who it was?"

"No. They took it down before I could get a look at it." Minato explained, "Apparently, it was only discovered a few hours earlier."

"No wonder there were policemen everywhere…" Shinjiro muttered,

"And that would explain the sirens from earlier." Akihiko said, "…A body hanging from an antenna…"

"We should get the girls on this." Minato suggested, "They should at least know."

"We already know, Arisato." Mitsuru said as the girl walked into the guys' room, "News travels quickly around here."

"A-A-A de-d-d-dead b-b-bo-bo-b-body…" Yukari stuttered out, "Oh God, what h-happened?"

"I suggest we see the news." Aigis said. Minato nodded and grabbed the remote. He quickly turned it to the news channel, which conveniently enough was now reporting on the incident,

"Our top story this evening concerns a bizarre case in a quiet suburb. Around noon today, a woman was found dead near the Samegawa River in Inaba." The newscaster said,

"Samegawa… that's right near Yasogami High." Mitsuru said, "A body hanging in such a populated area, especially in daylight… this is certainly strange."

"But… who was hanging from the antenna is the question." Fuuka pointed out. It was quickly answered a picture of Mayumi Yamano appeared on screen,

"The deceased has been identified as Ms. Mayumi Yamano, a 27-year-old announcer at the local television station." The newscaster announced, "The initial results of the Inaba Police Department's investigation have revealed..."

"Wait, I've seen her around before." Junpei spoke up, "Yeah! I could hear her yelling at the manager!"

"She was under fire over that scandal with that secretary and that enka star, right?" Yukari muttered, "It was all over the news all day yesterday and the day before…"

"Yeah, I think I've seen her when we were checking into the inn." Ken spoke up, "And now that I think about, I haven't even seen her since a couple of days ago."

"D-Did you think we had anything to do with this?" Junpei had to ask,

"I do not see our presence causing Mayumi Amano's death." Aigis said,

"So, what I'm getting from this is that someone killed the announcer from right under our noses and hung up her body…?" Yukari exclaimed, "H-How!?"

"I'm not sure, but there's nothing we can do about it." Mitsuru informed everyone, "We don't even know if it even is murder. She could've committed suicide."

"Then how do you explain her body hanging from an antenna?" Shijiro pointed out, "Ugh! Why are we even talking about this? Let the police handle it. They have more resources than us after all."

"Y-Yeah." Yukari said, but was still freaking out, "Oh God… what if there's another? What if it's one of us next!? I DON'T WANNA DIE!"

"Takeba! Calm down!" Mitsuru shouted out,

"Is something the matter?" Yukiko asked, having heard Yukari scream, "What's wrong with Io?"

"Don't worry about it." Minato quickly said before approaching Yukari, "Come on, it's gonna be okay. We'll protect you if anyone comes near you, got it."

"O-Okay…" Yukari said, now starting to calm down, before blushing, "Th-Thank you, Leader."

"You're welcome." Minato said before turning to Yukiko, "She's okay now."

"All right…" Yukiko said, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight." Minato said back. With that, Yukiko left,

"…It's getting late. We better get some sleep." Shinjiro said as he turned off the TV. Everyone quickly agreed and started going to their futons, but Yukari & Aigis stayed for some reason,

"With the possibility of a murderer on the loose, I simply cannot let myself leave unprotected." Aigis informed Minato,

"I-I just don't wanna sleep alone tonight…" Yukari admitted, still shaken up by the murder. Minato sighed before making some room in his futon. While shooting a glare at Junpei suggestive looks, Yukari made herself comfortable in Minato's futon, "Minato… I've been thinking… is the future really set already?" Yukari whispered to Minato as the lights turned off,

"That… has remained to be seen." Minato answered before closing his eyes.

Save Game… Quit!

Whew! Done! See ya next chapter!

UknownHero signing off, my friends!


	3. Chapter 3: The Midnight Channel

Hey! UknownHero here and welcome to another chapter of Time To Make History! I got a mention by RobotWarsDiego who writes The Unholy Trinity, which is also inspired by Chronologically Displaced so check it out when you have the chance! Also, while it would be interesting, Nanako will not be a Persona-user! But you have to realize, everything happens for a reason. Anyway, that's it so let the mystery start!

Load Game… Start!

Chapter 3: The Midnight Channel

(Early Morning 4/13)

Minato groaned as he walked to school, alone. His headache hasn't been getting any better, but it wasn't bothering him as much as he thought. He could barely notice it at times, only flaring up on occasions, 'Maybe it's the environment.' Minato thought, 'I might go see a doctor after-'

"HEY! GET OUT OF THE WAY!" A voice from behind him yelled out. Minato snapped out of his thoughts just in time to get out of the way of an oncoming biking student. Minato watched him go past him and realized it was that headphones guy from yesterday who got his nuts cracked. Minato winced as there was a large **WHAM** after said student lost control of his bike and somehow ended up in a trash can. Minato quickly ran up and saw Yu there as well.

"S-Someone…" the poor guy cried out, rolling around and unable to get up.

"Maybe we should help him out." Yu said as he approached the poor guy. Minato nodded and helped. After Minato pulled the trash can off of him and Yu helped him up, the biking student wiped some of the dirt off his uniform and smiled at his two saviors.

"Whew, you guys saved me. Thanks!" Yosuke said before, recognizing them. "Um…"

"What is it?" Minato asked.

"Oh yeah, that's right. You guys are one of the transfer students." Yosuke said, "Er… Yu Narukami and… Orpheus, right?"

"That's our names. Nice to meet you." Yu said as he shook Yosuke's hand, with Minato doing the same.

"I'm Yosuke Hanamura. Nice to meet ya too." Yosuke replied with a smile.

"Hey, are you okay? Your nads still intact?" Minato asked with a serious face. Yosuke didn't know if he was joking around or being serious.

"Oh yeah, yeah. They'r-I mean, I'm fine." Yosuke answered. There was something in the back of both Yu's and Minato's heads saying that he wasn't but decided to ignore it for now, "Say, did you hear about the incident from yesterday? They found that announcer lady hanging from an antenna!"

"I think we know. We were at the crime scene and it's been the talk of the town." Minato said.

"Wh-Really!? You guys were at the scene?" Yosuke exclaimed, surprised, "Did you see it?"

"She was taken down before we arrived and we couldn't stay there long anyway." Yu explained before shaking his head. "Such a waste of life…"

"I know. First day at school here and there's a freaking murder…" Yosuke said with a wince. "You think it was some kinda warning? There's no way something that weird could've been an accident."

"You might be right…" Minato said before shaking his head. "But it's not our job. Leave it to the police to figure it out."

"Yeah… there's not much point in speculating, huh?" Yosuke muttered. "Still, dangling a dead body over a roof like that... That's just messed up." Yosuke then winced at what he said. "Then again, it's pretty messed up to kill someone in the first place."

"You think?" Yu asked rhetorically. Yosuke sighed and checked his watch.

"Oh crap, we're late!" Yosuke swore before looking at his bike and then at the two. "You two wanna ride? It's a little squeaky, but it should be fine." Minato only gave Yu a look before he replied.

(2 seconds later)

"I MEANT ME AND ONE OF YOU!" Yosuke shouted out, running after Minato and Yu, with Yu pedaling while Minato was clinging onto him. "GET BACK HERE!"

"Huh, it really is a little squeaky." Minato mumbled to himself, ignoring Yosuke's shouts.

(Morning)

"Be quiet, you idiots!" Morooka shouted out. "You guys ARE in high school, aren't you? Can't you shut up during class? Don't you have any common sense? First of all, my job is to waste my precious time teaching you assholes philosophy! And since I'm so nice... I'll straighten up your rotten attitudes while you're at it! Aren't you honored!? And I'll be going especially hard on any of you morons that are curious about the murder! Got it!? Now, get your books out!" Minato groaned as he took out his textbook, but decided to pay attention to him anyway. Despite Morooka's rants and having learnt most of it at Gekkou, he did genuinely have some good lessons and Minato felt a little smarter afterwards.

"What I would give to have Mr. Edogawa here…" Minato heard Junpei mutter to himself. Minato couldn't help but agree.

(After School)

"You still have a headache?" Junpei said. "Come on. I wanted to hang out with you today. I'm so bored…"

"Sorry, Hermes." Minato apologized as he packed up his things. "I promise I'll make it up to you." Junpei sighed in response before smiling.

"Eh, it's alright. Get better, alright? I'll see ya at the Inn then." Junpei said before leaving. Minato decided to talk with Yu for a bit before he headed back to the Inn. He walked over to Yu and saw that he and Yosuke were talking.

"Hey, Orpheus." Yu greeted as Minato walked up to them.

"Am I interrupting?" Minato asked.

"Eh, weren't really talking about anything important." Yosuke answered. "By the way, you two getting used to this place?"

"Not really." Yu answered honestly.

"Yeah. I have this killer headache and it doesn't seem to be going away." Minato added. "Plus, a recent murder does put a damper on things."

"Yeah, well, you guys just got here so it's probably going to be a while before you're used to it. Plus, the murder thing." Yosuke said. "There isn't much to do here compared to the big city, but there is that certain... something you can't get anywhere else. The air's clean, the food's great... Oh, you know about the local delicacy?" Yosuke then chuckled to himself. "It's grilled steak, man! Like that's anything special, huh? I know a place where you can get it cheap. Wanna come? Despite the bike incident, you guys helped me out, so it's on me."

"Sure. But we still owe you. The least we can do is split the bill three ways." Minato offered, before Yosuke waved it off.

"Nah, don't worry about it. I heard from Lucia-san that you're tight on money right now, and I doubt Narukami here has any. I don't mind dipping just a little into my savings." Yosuke said with a warm smile on his face.

"What about me, huh?" Chie said as she walked up to the boys, hands on her hips. "No apologies? My ' _Trial of the Dragon._ '" Chie said through gritted teeth.

"Dude! I'm already treating two people! Come on, Chie!" Yosuke called out.

"How about it, Yukiko? Don't you think he should treat us, too?" Chie asked, ignoring Yosuke completely.

"I'll pass... I don't want to gain any more weight and Yosuke-san treating four people is just a bit excessive." Yukiko replied. "I need to help out at the inn today, anyway."

"Oh… yeah." Chie said, looking sorrowful. "Sorry. But you're still paying for my steak." Yosuke sighed.

"Well, at least it won't be as expensive…" Yosuke muttered to himself before at Yukiko. "Thanks Yukiko-san. Wait a minute, you started training to take over the family business?"

"It's not like that! I'm just helping out when it gets busy." Yukiko said as she stood up, a bit too forcefully to Yu and Minato's comfort. "Well, I should be on my way." And with that she left.

'Something's up with her…' Minato thought. 'Maybe I should talk to her later at the Inn.'

"Oh well. We should get going too." Chie said. "Come on, daylight's a-burning and so are grills!"

"Ugh… I have seriously have to treat three people…" Yosuke groaned. He could already hear his wallet crying. "Today is not my day…"

(June, Food Court)

Minato never really visited Junes but now that he looked around, it seemed like a nice place to hang around in. Though he did prefer the Shopping District, he wouldn't mind coming here. And with their low prices, maybe they could make the limited amount of money he brought with him last longer. Anyway, he saw Yosuke coming and stretched his muscles. " _This_ is the cheap place you were talking about!?" Chie exclaimed as Yosuke walked up to the table with all their orders. "They don't have grilled steak here."

"Yeah, well, once you hopped on the freeloader train, I had to change my plans." Yosuke replied as he put the tray of food down. "You're lucky they're having a sale at the food court today or else I wouldn't be able to afford all this food."

"Still, that's no reason to take us to your place." Chie whined.

"'Your place'?" Yu repeated with a raised eyebrow. Minato was wondering that too.

"Dude, this isn't my place or anything." Yosuke tried to clarify, only to notice the transfer students confused looks. "Oh, right, I haven't told you guys yet, huh? I moved here from another city about six months back. This location just opened up, and my dad was assigned to manage it. So our entire family came out here." Yosuke then took a drink. "Here, this is to welcome you two to town. Satonaka, yours is on me too."

"Yeah, I know." Chie said as she and others took their drinks.

"To Yu Narukami and Orpheus! Welcome to Inaba!" Yosuke said, raising his drink into the air.

"Here here!" Chie added as she did the same. They all tapped their drinks together and started eating and talking, the conversation becoming more animated as time went on. Minato was starting to enjoy it.

'Maybe this place won't be so bad…' Minato thought as he ate.

"It's only been half a year since this place opened up, but I haven't been to the local shopping district much since." Chie spoke up. "A lot of stores there started closing, and..." And then Chie noticed the wince on Yosuke's face. "Oh, uh..."

"You can't blame it all on Junes, can you?" Yosuke sighed.

"While there could be other factors, it doesn't stop those shop owners from blaming Junes." Minato pointed out. "And it sure seems like it too, so you can't blame 'em."

"But you can't blame Junes either because, well, it's just how business works." Yu pointed out as well.

"Is that supposed to make me feel better?" Yosuke groaned. He looked around and saw someone sitting down at a nearby table. "Hey... It's Saki-senpai! Sorry, be right back." And with that, he quickly stood up and walked over to her.

"He seems excited to see his senpai." Minato noted.

"Is she Yosuke's girlfriend?" Yu asked before taking a bite of his food while watching Yosuke.

"Haha, he wishes!" Chie chuckled out. "That's Saki Konishi. Her family runs a liquor store in the shopping district... I think she's working here part-time, though."

'That's probably causing some problems.' Minato thought before deciding to eavesdrop on Yosuke and Saki's conversation.

"Hey, how's it going? You look beat." Yosuke said, looking a little worried.

"Heeey! I'm finally on break…" Saki replied. For a second there, Minato saw her expression change but it happened so quick he couldn't tell what the expression was exactly. "What's up, Hana-chan? Boosting the family business by bringing your friends here?"

"Madam, you wound me!" Yosuke said jokingly before looking serious. "Kidding aside... You look down. Did something happen?"

"...It's nothing. I'm just a little tired." Saki replied. But Minato knew that she was lying. Yosuke did as well, but he decided not to press the issue.

"Hey, if you need to talk, I'm always willing to listen. I..." Yosuke started but was interrupted.

"I'm okay. Thanks, though." Saki chuckled out before sighing. "Why'd I leave school early yesterday...?" This caught Minato's attention. He gave a look at Yu and saw he was listening in too, both of them having the same thought. They decided to keep it to themselves for now. "Hey... Are those some of the people who transferred here?" Saki said as she walked up to the table. "Are you two one of the transfer students? Oh, did you hear about me already?"

"A little." Yu replied, causing Saki to giggle.

"It must be nice to have someone else from the big city to talk to, huh?" Saki said before turning to Minato with a look of pity. "And I heard about you and your group from my friends. How's life so far now that you're in Inaba?"

"I'm doing fine." Minato answered. "And how are you?"

"Fine as well." Saki lied. "You know, I don't see Hana-chan hanging out with the other guys much."

"Uh-Not necessarily..." Yosuke said weakly.

"He doesn't have too many friends, so I hope you get along good." Saki said. "Hana-chan's a good guy, but he can get nosy sometimes. You gotta tell him right to his face when he starts to annoy you."

"Nah, he's a great guy." Yu said as he patted Yosuke's back, making Saki chuckle.

"Ahaha, I know...I'm just kidding." Saki said, but there was something in her tone that said that she wasn't. At least to Minato and Yu.

"C-C'mon, Senpai. There's no need to worry about something like that." Yosuke spoke up. Suddenly, Saki's watch started beeping.

"Well, my break's just about over. Back to work I go..." Saki said with a sigh before cheering up. "Laters!"

"Oh, uh, Senpai...!" Yosuke said, trying to get her attention again before giving up and sitting back down on his chair. "Hahah, Saki-senpai says I'm annoying, but she's even nosier than me." Yosuke chuckled out. "She has a younger brother, and she treats me pretty much the same way..."

"Ohhh, you don't want her treating you like a brother, huh?" Chie said with a devious smile on her face.  
"Haha, I get it... So that's how it is…" She then started to talk dramatically. "The daughter of a local family-run liquor store and the scion of the invading chain... Hoho, the flame of forbidden love!"

"What-!? Dude, it's not like that." Yosuke stuttered out.

"Then why are you blushing?" Yu asked, causing the other to chuckle while Yosuke groaned.

"Oh reaaaally...Well, I know just the thing to cheer up that lovesick heart." Chie said with a smirk. "You ever hear of the Midnight Channel?" The boys just looked at each other before shaking their heads.

"'The Midnight Channel'?" Minato asked.

"Yeah. You're supposed to look into a TV that's switched off, _alone_ , exactly at midnight on a rainy night. While you're staring at your own image, another person will appear on the screen... And they say that person's your soulmate." Chie explained. Minato was a bit skeptical about this, and it seemed that Yu and Yosuke were too. But then again, Gekkoukan did turn into a tower full of monsters every night within a hidden hour next to no one knew apart from very specific people, so this was pretty mundane compared to what he went through with his friends.

"What? For a second, I thought you were actually going to say something useful..." Yosuke muttered. "How can you get all excited over such a childish urban legend like that?"

"Childish, huh? You don't believe it, do you!?" Chie said in disbelief.

"Of course I don't!" Yosuke retorted.

"It does seem like one of those fake rumors…" Yu admitted.

"I don't know…" Minato muttered as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"Well, it's raining tonight! Let's all try it out-then you'll all see!" Chie said with a determined expression on her face.

"Try it out...? Wait, you haven't even tried it yourself!?" Yosuke exclaimed. "Wow, I'm trying to remember the last time I heard something this stupid..." Yosuke said quietly, receiving a growl from Chie. "All that aside... you know that "incident" yesterday? You guys think it was murder?"

"Of course it was murder. We talked about this." Minato spoke up.

"I know, but what if the culprit behind it was still lurking around...? Heehee..." Yosuke said, earning a punch in the arm from Chie.

"Sheesh, you shouldn't joke about stuff like that. Now who's the childish one...?" Chie said. "All I'm saying is, you guys better try it out tonight." Although they kinda didn't want to, considering it sounded pretty stupid, they decided to try it out later that night.

(Evening)

"Announcer Mayumi Yamano's dead body was found hanging above a house in this isolated rural town. It is confirmed that Ms. Yamano had been involved in an affair with Taro Namatame, husband of enka singer Misuzu Hiiragi." The announcer said. Minato and the guys were watching TV, wanting to know a bit more about the murder.

"Man, all they've talked about all day is about that Yamano lady's death." Junpei complained. "I can't even turn a corner without hearing about a theory about how she died."

"Yeah, and the reporters aren't helping." Shinjiro said. "Damn, those guys are annoying. I couldn't even get in here without getting asked a million questions."

"Well, someone famous dying in such a small town in the countryside is bound to spark some excitement." Minato pointed out.

"Still… it's kinda wrong to think that a single murder would spark so much interest." Ken said. "Even the students and teachers at my school are talking about it."

"Yeah. It's only been a day and I'm already sick of it." Akihiko said with a sigh. "Let's just hope they catch this guy soon so it would just die down already."

"…We now bring you an exclusive interview with the student who found Ms. Yamano's body." The announcer said, getting the guys' attention again, just as they saw the girl come up on screen. Her face blurred out. To Minato, she looked vaguely familiar.

"Hey… isn't she wearing the Yasogami uniform?" Akihiko asked. "Didn't she get the announcement?"

"Ugh… her face isn't even blurred out that well and this guy is way too energetic to interview someone about a murder…" Shinjiro noted, a little ticked off by the interviewer's disrespect. Minato narrowed his eyes as he watched the TV. Suddenly, something clicked.

" _Kidding aside... You look down. Did something happen?" Yosuke asked, worried for his Senpai._

" _I'm okay. Thanks, though." Saki chuckled out before sighing. "Why'd I leave school early yesterday...?"_

" _Samegawa… that's right near Yasogami High." Mitsuru said._

"I know her." Minato spoke up.

"Wait, you know who's that girl is?" Ken asked.

"Yeah. She's… Saki Konishi. Third year. Her parents run a liquor store at the Northern Shopping District." Minato explained. "I overheard her say that she regretted leaving early from school. My guess is she was the one who found the body."

"That… makes sense." Junpei said. "The body was found on the way to Yasogami, so it wouldn't be so farfetched to say a Yasogami student found the body."

"Yeah. And when she did, _then_ the announcement was made." Akihiko spoke up. "She never heard it because she was the cause of it."

"I wouldn't be surprised if people recognized her. Their editing is shit." Shinjiro said before shaking his head. "Oh, whatever. The police probably already know that already. We should just go to sleep." The guys nodded and turned off the TV and went to their futons. Minato could hear that it was raining outside, reminding him of the Midnight Channel rumor he heard from Chie. Once he was sure everyone was asleep. He got up and stood in front of the inactive TV, pulling the plug on it just in case. He checked the clock.

 **(11:59)**

'This is not gonna work.' Minato thought. 'I wonder who made this stupid thing up?' He wondered before shaking his head and waited. And then, as though it was as loud as a church bell as the hands of the clock moved, it came.

 **(Midnight)**

"And…" Minato muttered to himself as he leaned. He waited.

And waited.

And waited.

"Why did I believe her?" Minato grumbled to himself as he turned around to go back to sleep.

And then, the TV turned on.

Minato felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise as he suddenly heard the TV turn on. Looked down to make sure he didn't step on the remote before looking behind him. The screen was filled yellow static, occasionally showing someone being thrown around. It was way too blurry to see anything. But Minato was just staring at the screen in awe, as he was sure he pulled the plug off. Suddenly, he felt a stab of pain in his head.

 _ **I… am thou...**_

"Orpheus?" Minato grunted out, feeling his headache worsen, before suffering another stab of pain.

 _ **Thou art I...**_

'Wh-Who are you!?' Minato shouted out in his head as he stumbled around, his head spinning. It wasn't Orpheus. It wasn't any of his previous Personas. It was someone, _something_ different.

 _ **Thou art the one who opens the door...**_

And with that, the Midnight Channel ended. Minato clutched his head as he tried to ease the pain in his brain.

And suddenly, all of it was gone.

"Thou art the one who opens the door…" Minato said as he slowly stood up. He didn't know why, but he needed to see something. He walked up to the TV again and stared at it before touching the glass screen. He quickly shot his hand back when he saw the screen ripple like water. Minato looked at his hand before touching the screen again and just kept going.

'My hand… is going into the TV!? What the Hell!?' Minato thought before he felt something grab him. "Huh?" Minato said before it started to pull him in. "Hey, wait! Stop!" Minato called out as his entire started to go in. "Shit! GUYS! WAKE UP!"

"Huh… what?" Junpei said tiredly as he sat up, "Argh… what's with all th-HOLY SHIT!" Junpei yelled out as he saw Minato's arm, as well as the rest of him, being sucked into the TV. Before Minato knew it, all the guys were awake, trying to pull him out of the TV.

"Let go, asshole!" Akihiko yelled at the TV as pulled his Leader with all his strength. Minato grabbed the TV, using it as leverage, and with all his might pulled himself out, which caused the others to fall on their backs. Minato suddenly felt something hit the back of his head. He quickly touched the area to see if there was any blood before groaning and letting himself off the pile that cushioned his fall. Suddenly, there was a knocking at the door. Although physically drained, Minato managed to get up and answer the door.

"Minato-kun! What's happening!?" Yukari exclaimed, the other girls behind her. "I swear, you guys probably woke up the entire inn." Yukari noticed how drained Minato and the guys looked. "Huh? What were you doing?" Minato only looked back and replied.

"I was watching TV."

(Early Morning 4/14)

"Watch this." Minato said as he took a deep breath. Everyone, even Koromaru, were in the boys' room in the Amagi Inn. He told them last night he would explain everything in the morning and now they were just seeing if last night was a fluke or a dream. Minato took another deep breath, made sure the guys were on standby in case he got sucked into the TV again, before touching it. Again, the screen rippled like water before he stuck his hand in before quickly pulling it out.

"Wh-What the Hell!?" Akihiko exclaimed as Koromaru whimpered. "How is that possible!?"

"S-S-S-So th-t-th-th-that wh-w-what ha-h-ha-happened l-last ni-n-night?" Yukari stuttered out.

"H-His hand… went into the TV…" Fuuka squeaked out.

"That is some magic trick…" Junpei muttered.

"Just when I thought things couldn't get any weirder…" Shinjiro muttered.

"I-I-I can't…" Ken said, unable to speak a coherent sentence.

"Arisato, what on Earth did you do!?" Mitsuru called out in disbelief.

"I don't know." Minato answered. "I was trying out a rumor, The Midnight Channel. I saw someone being thrown around. Maybe a girl. Then there were voices and next thing I knew I was sticking my hand into the TV."

"Wait, the Midnight Channel?" Fuuka said. "I heard about that. D-Did the Midnight Channel do this?"

"I'm not sure." Minato said before he noticed Aigis approaching the TV. "Aigis?" She touched the TV, but all that happened was just the sound of metal hitting glass.

"Odd." Aigis noted.

"Hm? What is it, Aigis?" Mitsuru asked.

"Well, a possible theory is that since Minato-san is a Persona-user, he could stick his hand into the TV. So theoretically, I should be able to as well. However, my test from before indicated that it is not the case. Maybe due to factors, like me having an artificial body." Aigis explained. Deciding to go for broke, everyone else touched the TV screen, yet none of them seemed to recreate Minato's experience with the TV.

"Maybe it's because Minato-kun is a Wild Card then?" Yukari guessed. "But wait, how does the power of Persona relate to sticking your hand into a TV!? Just what the Hell is going on here!?"

"Yeah. First we time travel, then the murder of that announcer, and now this…" Junpei muttered. "I don't think any of these events are coincidences. Something's definitely up."

"We don't have the time to speculate about it now. We'll have time after school." Mitsuru said as she looked at the clock. "We need to get to school. Shinjiro, Koromaru, see if you can found out anything about this Midnight Channel."

"On it." Shinjiro said as he hid Koromaru inside his jacket. "Maybe it'll help us get back to our time."

"I'll go talk to Yu, Yosuke and Chie. See if they have anything to add. They did promise to watch the Midnight Channel yesterday." Minato said, which Mitsuru nodded at.

" _C'est magnifique_!" Mitsuru said. "Alright. Everyone. With the discovery of the Midnight Channel and other recent developments, I formally declare SEES is once again active!"

"But wait, this might not have anything to do with Shadows. And even if it did, we can't use our Personas. Our Evokers got confiscated." Ken pointed out. "Plus, we don't have the support of Kirijo Group anymore."

"You're right!" Akihiko said, snapping his fingers. "We need a new acronym!"

"I don't think that's important right now…" Shinjiro deadpanned.

"We'll work that out later, Akihiko." Mitsuru sighed. "Anyway, for now we only gather information about the Midnight Channel for now. If we somehow encounter Shadows... do not engage under any circumstances." She then looked at Akihiko. "Is that clear, Akihiko?"

"Hey!" Akihiko called out. "I know we can't fight Shadows without our Personas!"

"Just making sure." And with that, they all headed out, determined to discover the secrets of the Midnight Channel.

(Morning)

"Wow, it feels like we're in Gekkoukan all over again." Junpei whispered to Minato as the teacher entered the room… wearing an Egyptian Headdress and Dowsing Rod. Minato just shrugged in response.

'Where do they get these people…?' Minato thought as the teacher talked.

"Hello, everyone. My name is Kimiko Sofue, and I don't know how much you know about world history, but I'm an expert." Ms. Sofue introduced herself. "First, a little about me. I love to use my dowser to look for lost items, and there's nothing quite like a romance. In fact, world history is a magnificent romance. History is like a river, it was born in the past and flows ever forward. I hope we can all enjoy the profundity of history together. Hohoho. And since this is my first lecture, I'll start with an easy question. Our transferee, Mister or Miss… ah! One of the mysterious transfer students! Orpheus, please stand up." Minato was just about to go to sleep when he got called up. "The western calendar is based on Anno Domini, the traditionally believed year of Jesus Christ's birth. What is the year before 1 A.D. called?" Minato thought about it for a few seconds before he knew the answer.

"Well, since the number zero or the idea of negative numbers couldn't possibly exist back then, I'd say 1 B.C." Minato answered.

"Wow! You must've learned a lot off the street, huh?" Ms. Sofue said. "If you think that history is like math, 0 A.D. would be the natural assumption, but world history is much more complicated. The Gregorian calendar we use today is based on the Julian calendar, which was made while there was no concept of the zero as a number, as Orpheus explained beforehand. That's why, when counting backwards, we go from 1 A.D. straight to 1 B.C. Hopefully that was a nice introduction to world history..." Minato sat down and looked at Yu, who was writing down everything. Minato felt that both himself and Yu gained more knowledge from the lesson.

(After School)

"There wasn't much we gathered about the Midnight Channel…" Minato said. He was talking to Junpei and Yukari about the Midnight Channel, with Aigis, Fuuka and the rest going into town to gather more from the public, "What we gathered so far here we already know about. Watch at midnight on a rainy day and then you'll see you soulmate or something like that."

"And… no reason why you can stick your hand in a TV…" Junpei groaned. "You know, I have to ask, why does everything mysterious or bad happen at midnight!?"

"You know, I've been asking the same thing to myself for a long time…" Yukari muttered.

"Well, whatever it is. We need different angles." Minato said while looking at Yu, who looked at little tired. "I'm gonna go talk to Yu and find out more."

"Sure." Junpei and Yukari said as they all stood up and followed Minato over to Yu's desk, ignoring more talk about how Yamano was murdered and how her body was found.

"O-Oh… Orpheus…" Yosuke said nervously as they all approached Yu. Yosuke then spotted Junpei and Yukari. "Um… Io and Hermes, right?" Yukari and Junpei nodded. "O-Okay…" Yosuke then turned his attention to Yu. "Y-Yo. Um… It's, uh, it's not really that important, but... Well, yesterday on TV, I..."

"Spit it out man." Minato spoke up.

"Oh! Er… well, uhh..." Yosuke then sighed. "Never mind. Look, I'll tell you guys later. Ahaha..."

"Hey, uh, Yosuke? What's the problem?" Junpei asked.

"I-It's nothing! Really." Yosuke said, but they all seriously doubted that.

"Hey." Chie said as she walked up to the group. "Wow, Narukami, you seem really popular with outsiders huh."

"Seems like it." Yu said. "So, why is everyone around me?"

"Oh, well, first off, Yosuke." Chie said, getting the headphone-wearing boy's attention. "Did you hear the rumor? Saki-senpai's supposedly the one who discovered that body." Yosuke could only sigh sadly in response.

"I wonder if that's why she looked so down... She doesn't seem to be at school today either." Yosuke muttered, looking rather depressed.

"Well, the news didn't do a good job of hiding her identity." Minato said.

"Huh? Hey Yukiko, are you helping out at the inn today too?" Chie asked Yukiko.

"Things are really out of hand right now... I'm sorry." Yukiko apologized before leaving.

"I guess they're running her ragged..." Chie said with a sigh.

"Yeah. With the death of Mayumi Yamano, the paparazzi has been swarming the Inn ever since." Yukari explained. "We can't go two feet near the place before being asked questions."

"Man, I feel sorry for you guys." Chie said truthfully before leaning and asking in a quieter tone. "By the way, did you see _it_ last night?"

"You mean the Midnight Channel?" Junpei asked.

"Yeah. Hey, did you guys watch it too!?" Chie questioned. Minato, Junpei and Yukari winced.

"They didn't but… I did." Minato answered while rubbing the back of his neck.

"Hey, Yosuke. You watched it too, right?" Chie asked, snapping Yosuke out of his thoughts.

"Huh...? Uh, well... What about you?" Yosuke countered. Minato noted that he had been acting really strange all day.

"I did! I seriously saw a girl! But... my soulmate's a girl? What's that supposed to mean?" Chie asked.

"Chie, right? Are you… hiding certain feelings?" Junpei couldn't help but ask.

"Huh? What are you-" It took Chie about two seconds to figure out what Junpei suggested before slamming her foot into his nuts. Yosuke winced, feeling the phantom pain of the critical hit. "I DON'T HAVE HIDDEN FEELINGS!"

"J-Just a suggestion…" Junpei squeaked out.

"Is he gonna be alright?" Yu asked.

"Ugh. He'll be fine." Yukari replied. "Anyway, back to the Midnight Channel. Can you describe the person you saw?"

"Right." Chie spoke up before continuing. "I couldn't quite tell who it was, but it was a girl for sure. Her hair was brown, about shoulder length. She was wearing our school uniform, and..."

"Hey... I think that's the same person I saw." Yosuke interrupted. "I couldn't make out that much detail, though. The image I saw was much blurrier..."

"Wait, so you saw it too!?" Chie exclaimed. "We saw the same girl...? Does that mean... we have the same soulmate?" She guessed.

"Let's ignore the soulmate thing. I don't think that's important right now." Minato said. 'Otherwise, I would've saw "Eurydice".' Minato thought, taking a quick glance at Yukari.

"How should I know?" Yosuke asked rhetorically before looking at Minato and Yu. "How 'bout you? Did you see it?"

"I saw a girl too." Yu admitted. "I couldn't make out the exact details but I think the person I saw fit Chie's description."

"I saw her too." Minato spoke up. "It looked like… she was being thrown around… but something happened afterwards."

"Really?" Yu asked, surprised. "Something happened after I watched the Midnight Channel too." This caused the time travelers' eyes to widen. "First, there was this voice in my head, saying something I couldn't really understand but… it felt like it was my voice but at the same time… it wasn't. I felt dizzy and then, for some reason… I touched my TV. Next thing I knew, I put my hand in and my TV tried to eat me. It was too small for me to go through, though. I managed to pull myself out and ended up banging my head on my table."

"What the…" Minato said. "That… happened to me too…"

"What?" Yu asked in surprised.

"Yeah. I was watching the Midnight Channel and started hearing voices too. The only difference was that there were others who pulled me out. Thanks, by the way." Minato explained.

"You're welcome…" Junpei said, still on the ground in pain.

"Me and Orpheus had the same experience…" Yu mumbled to himself.

"And it sounds like we all saw the same person..." Yosuke muttered. "But weird voices aside, what was that about getting sucked into your TV...?" He then chuckled. "Were you two that tired last night? You guys must've just fallen asleep in front of your TV."

"Though, it is kinda weird you two had the same dream." Chie giggled out. "It's still one interesting dream. I like the part where you got stuck 'cause your TV was too small. That's pretty realistic."

"But it really did happen…" Junpei groaned out. "We had to pull him out…"

"I think you guys were hallucinating from sleep deprivation." Yosuke said. "But then again, it is pretty weird."

"B-But…" Yukari tried to say something, but couldn't find her words. "W-W-We…"

"You know, if it had been bigger—" Chie started, completely ignoring them, before remembering something. "Ohhh, that reminds me. Our family's been talking about buying a bigger TV."

"Oh yeah? Well, flatscreen TVs are definitely in these days." Yosuke said. "Wanna go check 'em out on the way back? We're beefing up our electronics department this month."

"Oh, definitely!" Chie said excitedly. "My parents don't know anything about electronics, and I've just gotta see my kung-fu movies on the big screen! Hwa-taaaa!" Chie cried out, performing a kung-fu pose.

"We've got some pretty big ones in stock." Yosuke said with a cocky grin before looking at Minato and Yu. "I bet they'd be big enough for you to fit into, hehe." Yosuke said before he and Chie laughed as they walked out the classroom.

"They don't believe us at all…" Minato muttered, his left eye twitching.

"We should go to Junes with the others anyway." Yu said with a sigh and followed the two. Minato shook his head before helping Junpei up and followed Yu, with Junpei and Yukari in tow.

(Junes, Electronics Department)

"Man, TVs look so different these days." Yukari noted as Minato, Junpei, Yukari and Chie explored the electronics department with Yosuke being their tour guide. Junpei picked up a milkshake from the Food Court on their way to the department. "I mean, look at the size of these things! And look at how many HD TVs there are!"

"What are you from? 2009?" Yosuke asked jokingly with a laugh. It suddenly became awkward for Minato and his friends.

"You… could say that…" Junpei said awkwardly.

"Wow, this one's huge!" Chie said in awe as they approached a rather large TV. "And… Holy crap, it's expensive! Who buys something like this?"

"I dunno... Rich folks?" Yosuke explained. "Honestly, not many people shop for TVs here. That's why we don't have clerks around."

"Huh... Not worth trying then, I guess. Well, at least looking's free." Chie said cheerfully. Then she and Yosuke pressed their hands onto the TV screen.

"Nope, can't get in. Figures." Yosuke said with a shrug.

"Haha, this proves it. It was all just a dream." Chie said before she started looking around the department.

"Besides, these flat-screen TVs are so thin, you'd just end up on the other side..." Yosuke started to explain how illogical it is before shaking his head. "Argh, what am I saying!? So, Chie. What kind of TV are you guys in the market for?"

"They said they wanted one that's cheap. You got any suggestions?" Chie asked as she and Yosuke walked away.

"Well, Miss Satonaka." Yosuke said in his best salesman impression as he showed her a much cheaper TV. "Might I suggest this one over here? It's the latest model, just released this Spring."

"Wha-that's not cheap at all! There's way too many zeroes!" Chie complained.

"I should've asked what you meant by "cheap" right off the bat." Yosuke groaned.

"You've got connections, right? C'mon, hook me up!" Chie said, hoping for a major discount or free.

"You know I can't do that..." Yosuke said with a sigh. "Hey, how about this one over here? It's a display unit. It's a little old, but..." Minato stopped paying attention to them as he, Yu, Junpei and Yukari looked at the TV in front of them. Junpei and Yukari approached the TV to see if their hands went in, but to no avail.

"How come Minato-kun and Yu-san can enter the TV, but we can't…" Yukari wondered out loud. "Yu-san is a normal person… right?"

"I'm just as confused, Yuka-tan. Maybe it only works with a specific TV for each of us…? So many things aren't adding up…" Junpei muttered as he and Yukari stepped away. Yu and Minato looked at each other before looking at the TV.

"Looks about big enough for both of us to go in." Yu noted.

"Well, why not?" Minato pointed out. Yu nodded and they both stuck their hands into the TV.

"Well, that rules out the specific TV thing!" Junpei exclaimed.

"Oh… this can't really be happening…" Yukari said nervously, still getting used to the fact that people could go into TVs.

"Oh yeah, Narukami! Orpheus!" Yosuke called out for them. "What kind of TV do you—" Suddenly, Yosuke lost his voice as he saw Minato's and Yu's arms inside the TV.

"Huh? Something wrong, Yosuke?" Chie asked before looking where Yosuke was looking at before her jaw dropped.

"A-Are their arms... in the TV...?" Yosuke squeaked out.

"Whoa... Uhhh... Is that some kinda... new model? L-Like with a new function?" Chie asked, trying to comprehend the thing that pretty much broke all laws of physics, science and other laws she should probably know for midterm exams.

"Hell no!" Yosuke shouted out as they both dashed up to the boys with their hands in the TV.

"We told you." Junpei said.

"Now is not the time Hermes!" Chie called out. "You gotta be kidding me… You two really _did_ stick your hands through the screen?"

"Ye-Yeah… we had tr-t-trouble believing it t-too." Yukari spoke up.

"Oh man... This is for real... That's some magic trick, man!" Yosuke said frantically as he started to hyperventilate. "So how's it work, huh!? What's the magician's secret!?" Minato was tempted to say 'Persona' but he was just as confused as everyone else.

"Maybe we should put in more than our arms…" Minato muttered before climbing up and sticking half of his body in, with Yu doing the same.

"H-Hey, don't do that! What're doing!?" Yosuke shouted out.

"Le-I mean, Orpheus! Hey, stop that!" Junpei exclaimed.

"This can't be happening… this is all a convoluted dream that I will wake up from in 2009…" Yukari mumbled to herself, now completely freaking out. "Why can't my life be normal!?"

"OH MY GOD!" Chie screamed out, who was also freaking out.

"There's an empty space inside…" Yu told the others.

"Wh-What do you mean, 'inside'!?" Yosuke sputtered out.

"Wh-What do you mean, 'empty space'!?" Chie exclaimed.

"It seems very spacious in here..." Minato noted.

"Dude, wh-what do you mean by 'spacious'!?" Junpei called out.

"What is going on…? What did I do to deserve this…!?" Yukari cried out. "Next you know I can summon my Persona without my shooting myself in the head…"

"Um… is she going to be alright?" Yosuke asked before he expressed his surprise in the most eloquent way possible. "Holy crap… I-I think this is all too much for my bladder…" This snapped Yukari out of her freak out.

"Wh-What the Hell!? Ew, get away from me!" Yukari called out as she stepped away from Yosuke.

"What the-? Are you gonna pee your pants!?" Chie exclaimed in exasperation.

"I've been holding it in all day! I-I haven't had a chance to go... Aaarrgh!" Yosuke said, holding on as long as he could. "Can't... hold it... anymore!"

"Aw crap, I need to pee too!" Junpei said as he dropped his drink and both he and Yosuke dashed off, only to come straight back. "Shit! They're people coming over here!"

"What!?" Chie shouted out. "But we've got two guys half stuck in the TV here! Wh-What're we gonna do!?"

"Uh…" Yukari's head was running at a million miles per hour before she looked at the TV when Minato and Yu were in and saw there was really no choice. "Uh… GET INTO THE TV!"

"What the-" Yosuke said before being cut off.

"Yuka-tan, what are you-" Junpei was also cut off by the same person.

"Wait, WHAT!?" Yu and Minato called out before Yukari shoved everyone into the TV. "Whoa whoa whoa WHOA!"

 **-Midnight Channel-**

"OH CRAP!" Junpei yelled out before landing on his face.

"I DON'T WANNA DIE!" Yukari shouted out before landing flat on her back.

"THIS IS NOT HAPPENING!" Chie cried out before landing on her butt.

"NOT ON CHIE! NOT ON CHIE!" Yosuke screamed out before hitting a beam of some sort and then landing on his wallet _next_ to Chie. Meanwhile, Yu performed a Hero Landing while Minato rolled to disperse the energy of the fall and ended in the exact same position as Yu. Everyone started to groan as they tried to observe their surroundings, or what they could see despite the sickly yellow fog.

"Ow, I landed right on my wallet..." Yosuke groaned in pain.

"Man... Where the heck are we?" Chie asked as they all got up. "What is this place? Somewhere inside Junes?"

"I think it's safe to assume we're as far away from Junes as we can get." Junpei said everyone looked around. "I mean, we all got shoved through a TV!"

"Sorry…" Yukari apologized. "But… where are we?"

"So… uh… we're still alive… Right?" Chie asked fearfully.

"Is everyone okay?" Minato quickly asked, understanding everyone's health was of top priority.

"Fine." Yu replied.

"I think I need a chiropractor…" Yukari groaned before she cracked her back.

"I'm okay, just a little dizzy." Junpei moaned in pain.

"I think my butt's cracked now…" Yosuke groaned as he rubbed the sore spot.

"Of course it is!" Chie called out. Yosuke sighed and decided to look around before noticing something.

"Whoa!" Yosuke exclaimed.

"Wh-What now!? Did you wet your pants!?" Chie said, not wanting to deal with this right now.

"What!?" Junpei shouted out, feeling his bladder cry for release.

"No, stupids! Look!" Yosuke said. They all looked around and saw they were in a TV studio. Underneath them was a target with outlines of people on it.

"Th-That's not com-c-co-comforting…" Yukari said weakly as she stared at the floor.

"Is this… a studio?" Chie asked.

"Looks like it. But…" Junpei muttered as he looked around. "I can barely see it. The fog's way too thick to see anything."

"I can barely see the floor and my head is killing me." Minato groaned as he rubbed his forehead.

"All this fog... or is it smoke?" Yukari wondered. "Ugh… this is so confusing!"

"There's no place like this in Inaba, is there...?" Chie muttered as she looked around.

"Hell no. But man... this place is huge..." Yosuke said in awe.

"Ugh, we're gonna get lost if we just wander around…" Junpei said, wishing Fuuka and her Persona was here.

"What're we gonna do?" Chie asked.

"Well, the only thing we can do." Minato spoke up with a shrug. "Go home."

"G-Good plan! Look, we need to get home and-!" Chie started before she started to look around frantically. "H-Huh...? Wait a minute...Which way did we come in from? I don't see a way in... or out!"

"What? That can't be right! H-How could that be!?" Yosuke exclaimed in panic.

"WE FELL FROM THE SKY!" Junpei shouted out as he pointed up. "For all we know, the only freaking exit is probably up _there_!"

"Th-That m-m-m-means…" Yukari stuttered out before she started crying. "I can't take this anymore! I just wanna go home!" Minato quickly went over and tried to comfort Yukari.

"We-We're gonna die in here…" Chie said, collapsing to her knees and hugging herself. "We are so gonna die in here…"

"Everyone, let's calm down!" Yu called out. "If we panic, we are going to die in here! The worst thing we can do is panic so let's all relax and think this through."

"Y-You're right. Okay..." Yosuke said before taking a deep breath. Slowly but surely, everyone calmed down enough to think. "Okay. Let's calm down and think about this. All right, so we need to find a way out."

"Is there really a way out? If we can't find any…" Yukari muttered.

"Hey, we got in somehow. Finding an exit won't be impossible." Junpei said in a comforting tone. "Just… kinda hard."

"That does not fill me with confidence, Stupei." Yukari muttered.

"Well, at least she's calm…" Junpei muttered.

"Um, 'Stupei'? What?" Chie asked, causing the members of SEES to swear in their heads.

"Er… I meant Stupid! I must've flubbed my words. Silly me!" Yukari lied as she playfully bonked her head. "But in all seriousness though, you guys really think there's an exit?"

"If there's no exit, we're trapped, so let's cross our fingers and look around." Yosuke said. They all nodded, picked a direction, and headed deeper into the world inside the TV.

(Some time later…)

Eventually, they somehow managed to find their way to a building. They didn't know how but they all ended up walking up some stairs. At the end of the path a swirling red and black vortex. "What is this place…? It feels different from where we were before…" Chie said.

"It feels like there's something weighing me down." Yukari spoke up. "Like… I don't know… I just hate this place for some reason…"

"It looks like we're in some kinda building, but damn, this fog's so thick, I can hardly see." Yosuke said.

"You think we might heading _away_ from the exit?" Junpei asked.

"I can't be positive, but we've gotta trust our instinct a little." Yosuke answered.

"But instincts are telling me we should probably leave this place." Minato said before groaning in pain. "And my head agrees."

"Well, sometimes you have to go against instincts then." Yosuke said. "Plus, we may never know. The exit might be that." Yosuke said, pointing at the vortex.

"The swirling red and black vortex in the extremely creepy building. Sure…" Yukari deadpanned.

"It seems that there's no choice for now but to continue onward." Yu said as he took the lead and headed into the vortex, the others following soon after. Soon, they found themselves in what looked like to be a bedroom.

"The fog's lighter here…" Minato noted as the boys walked in. Yosuke took out his phone and checked the signal.

"And… there's no service. What a surprise." Yosuke said sarcastically as the girls entered the room.

"Can't you guys slow down? It's hard enough to see where you're going…" Chie said before noticing some ripped posters. Yukari saw them too and turned around, only to hold back a scream. Chie then looked where Yukari was looking, "Huh? What the...!?" The boys raised their eyebrows and turned their heads.

Ripped posters covered the walls, the face whoever was supposed to be on it missing. There was also yellow, white and red paint splattered everywhere. At least, Minato hoped it was just red paint. And to top things off, there was a chair and a noose in the middle of the room.

"It's a dead end! There's no exit!" Chie cried out.

"No exit!? What about what's going on in this room!?" Junpei exclaimed. "Looks like a clown was killed here! A really, shitty clown."

"It keeps getting creepier and creepier the further we go..." Yosuke muttered before groaning. "Aargh! I can't hold it any longer! My bladder's gonna explode...!"

"Yeah! I need to pee too!" Junpei said as he and Yosuke ran to a corner of the room.

"What are you two doing!?" Yukari shouted at the two.

"We're gonna piss our pants unless we let it out!" Yosuke called out.

"And you're going here!? Oh, you have got to be kidding..." Chie muttered. "Narukami, will you please stop these guys!?"

"I really don't wanna be here when it starts!" Yukari begged.

"Huh, why would I do that?" Yu asked.

"Yeah. If a man's gotta pee, a man's gotta pee." Minato added.

"Huh?" Chie and Yukari said blankly.

"T-Turn around! I can't go if everyone's watching!" Yosuke said.

"What are you talking about? I'm done." Junpei said as he walked over to the group.

"I don't see a puddle…" Minato pointed out as he looked at Junpei's corner.

"Nah, I just peed in the plant while no one was looking." Junpei explained. "And Yosuke should be done by now."

"NO I'M NOT!" Yosuke shouted out. "Aaaaargh... I can't do it! It's all your guys' fault if my bladder bursts!"

"Like I care..." Chie sighed. "Anyways...what's with this room? Check out these posters. Their faces are all cut out... Someone must really hate this person..."

"And all this blood and stuff… was someone really killed here?" Yukari spoke up, her body shivering.

"And dude, check this out." Yosuke said as everyone looked at the centerpiece of the room. "This chair and rope. That kind of arrangement is never good…"

"Hey, is that a scarf tied in a noose…?" Junpei wondered out loud.

"C'mon... Let's go back to where we came from and look somewhere else for an exit..." Chie suggested. growing tired of all the observations. It was giving her a headache.

"Do we even remember where the start is?" Minato pointed out as they walked out the room, only to stop when Yosuke stopped.

"Hey." Yosuke said as he looked at a nearby poster. "I think I've seen this poster before…"

"Who CARES!? Let's go! I am sick of this place!" Chie yelled out before groaning. "And I'm not feeling so good..."

"Now that you mention it, me too..." Yosuke muttered weakly.

"Oh… it feels like a million trucks are crashing in my skull…" Yukari moaned.

"We need to get out of here before bladder problems are the least of our worries." Junpei groaned.

"I don't think I can walk straight." Minato said as he stumbled around and clutched his head. Yu quickly put Minato's arm around his shoulder and supported him.

"Alright then. Let's head back. I've had enough of this place to last a lifetime." Yu said as he led the group back to the entrance.

(Some time later…)

"Whew! We finally made it back here…" Chie said weakly as they arrived, still feeling rather sick. Then, the group stopped in their tracks as they saw… something within the fog.

"Wh-What's that!?" Yukari cried out. "What the Hell is that!?"

"Th-There's something over there!" Yosuke called out. Yu, Minato, Chie and Junpei quickly went into battle stances. Whatever monstrosity that was coming their way, they were gonna fight it.

Without Personas.

Or weapons.

And feeling like they were going to barf at any moment.

"Ugh… I really hate today." Minato muttered to himself as he went to his knees before the thing started to emerge from the fog. Minato forced himself up, despite everything he was suffering. Who was going to attack them? Was it a Shadow? Someone trapped in the TV as well? Or something else? It didn't matter to Minato as he got ready for the toughest fight for his life.

Only to have the most disappointing encounter in his life.

"Uh… what the heck is that?" Junpei asked as what looked like a monkey or a bear mascot… thing walked out of the fog.

"It looks like… a monkey? A bear?" Chie guessed.

"What in the world…?" Yosuke whispered out.

"Th-That's what I wanna know!" The mysterious bear whined out. "Who are you guys?" The group stepped back in shock as soon as they heard the bear speak.

"It talked!" Chie gasped before going into a battle stance again. "W-What are you!? Y-You wanna fight!?" The bear quickly cowered in fear at the threat.

"D-Don't yell at me like that…" The bear whimpered out.

"Looks like it isn't a threat." Yu told the group. "We should at least ask it nicely." Minato nodded and walked forward.

"What is this place?" Minato asked in a warm tone. The bear stopped cowering and looked at the group.

"This place is what it is. It doesn't have a name. It's where I live." The bear explained.

"You… live here?" Junpei said with a skeptical look on his face. "That… huh. You know what, I'm just glad there's someone other than us here."

"Thanks. If I was you guys, I'd hurry back to the other side. Someone's been throwing people in here. It's a big headache." The bear told the group.

"What? Th-Throwing people in? What do you mean by that?" Yukari asked.

"I mean that someone on your side is throwing people in here, and now everything's a mess!" The bear answered. "I dunno who's doing it! I just want them to think before they go doing things like that!" This pissed Chie off immensely.

"Hey, what's your problem? What gives _you_ the right to yell at us like that!?" Chie yelled out. "What _are_ you!? Where are we!? What the heck's going on here!?" The bear quickly hid behind Minato and Yu and cowered.

"I already told you." The mascot said quietly. "A-Anyways, you should hurry back."

"What it comes down to is, you want us to get outta here, right?" Yosuke said. "Well, so do we! We just don't know how, dammit!" The bear looked rather angry at Yosuke.

"Urrrrgh! That's why I'm saying I'll let you out!" The bear exclaimed.

"Like I keep saying, we don't know where the frickin' exit—" Yosuke started to yell before he realized what the bear just said. "Wait, what?" The bear nodded at them and then tapped his foot on the floor. Minato and Yu quickly got out of the way as a stack of three retro TVs appeared.

"What the hell!?" Yosuke exclaimed in surprise.

"Wh-Where did those TVs come from!?" Chie asked, but really didn't care. She just wanted this day to be over. Suddenly, the bear started pushing them towards the stack of TVs.

"Okay, now go, go, get outta here! I'm a busy bear!" The bear said as he pushed the group.

"What's going on now!? Whoa! Hey, what're you doing!?" Chie called out.

"Hey! Hold on! Watch where you're touching!" Yukari said.

"H-Hey, those TVs don't look like they can fit us all!" Junpei pointed out.

"S-Stop pushing!" Yosuke grunted out. Before they left the TV World, Minato swore he saw a blob of static within the fog. Before he could even say anything about it, he was shoved into the stack of TVs and into the Real World.

 **(Real World)**

"Whoa!" Junpei cried out as they all landed in a pile. "Oh…"

"Huh?" Chie said as she rubbed her forehead. "Is this…?"

"Did we... make it back?" Yosuke asked. Everyone just groaned in response as they got up and dusted themselves off. Suddenly, an announcement came.

"Attention, shoppers. Our daily limited-time sale will now begin at the side dish area on the first floor. Why not try the delicious, fresh produce Junes picked for you this morning as your side dish for dinner tonight? All ages are invited to take advantage of this incredible bargain!"

"What? It's that late already?" Yukari said, trying to shake off her sickness. "Aw crap, the last bus back to the Inn is gonna leave soon…"

"We were in there for a quite a while…" Chie said. Yosuke just shook his head before he saw something that caught his eye.

"That's right... Now I remember where I saw that poster before... Look over there! That's the poster we saw!" Yosuke said. The other looked over and saw a poster and a standee of Misuzu Hiiragi.

"Hey, you're right, they're the same." Chie said in realization. "I couldn't tell without the face, but it was Misuzu Hiiragi. She's been all over the news lately. Something about...her husband having an affair with that announcer lady who died the other day. "

"And… everything seems to link back to the murder." Minato muttered to himself.

"Hey, that weird room from earlier, could it be related to the announcer's death?" Junpei whispered to himself with a thoughtful look on his face.

"Now that I think about it... there was that creepy noose hanging from the ceiling..." Yosuke pointed out before slapping his cheeks and shaking his head. "Yaaargh, stop! No more! We gotta stop talking about this. I'm gonna wipe what happened today from my brain. I don't think my poor heart can take anymore."

"And your bladder?" Yu pointed out.

"Yes. And my-" Suddenly, Yosuke's eyes widened. "Oh shit!" He yelled out before spiriting towards the nearest restroom.

"I'm feeling a chill too." Chie muttered as she rubbed her arms. "Let's go home... I wanna lie down and rest."

"Well, I think we all need the rest." Yu said. "I'll see you guys tomorrow then?"

"Maybe. As long as we're not dead by then." Minato said jokingly before groaning. All he wanted to do was sleep. After Yukari bought some TaP Soda for all of them, they managed to get on the bus and make it to the Inn. When they made it, they ignored the questions of the paparazzi, gave half-hearted replied to their friends before collapsing in their futons and letting sleep take them.

Save Game… Quit!

Whew! That's it for now! See ya soon and I really need to figure out new acronym for the combined team of the Investigation Team and SEES. Oh boy…

UknownHero signing off, my friends!


	4. Chapter 4: Unleash My Other Self

Hey! UknownHero here and welcome to another chapter of Time To Make History! Oh, Merry Christmas everyone and after so much difficulty this year, I'm definitely gonna finish off React Watch Believe Yikes next year, which is available on Archive of Our Own if you aren't aware or curious about what it is. Anyway, I wanna thank everyone for all the support throughout the year, special thanks to my first ever Beta Thy Pegasus Box for his/her patience, kindness and generosity and most of all thank my family and friends (which will remain unknown to you) for all the love and care they give. Oh Hell, 2016 wasn't the most… okay, let's be honest, it was kinda a bad year considering a lot of crap went down but let's just hope 2017 will bring us good fortune. I won't be updating until January so in the meantime, hang out with your loved ones. By the way, I checked the wiki and realized that Minato doesn't have Social Links with the guys so there's gonna be a change in plans. Anyway, onto the reviews. To seekerskull8692 (Really specific number by the way): SEES will have a… unique way of summoning their Personas. But no, Minato will only start off with Orpheus just to make things fair. Thanatos will be an available Persona, but won't be until much later in the story. The rest of your questions will be answered within the story. To Das master 48: No, they won't. Okay, that's it! Time for the investigation to begin!

Any songs mentioned can be found on YouTube.

Chapter 4: Unleash My Other Self (Alt: The Shadow of the Wannabe Heroes)

(4:15, Early Morning)

That night, Minato felt like he was floating. It was soothing, yet chilling at the same time. Like he could rest and relax, but feeling like he should keep his guard up just in case. He remembered this feeling. It was from before the whole mess with Tartarus and Inaba. The Blue-Haired Fool slowly opened his eyes and frowned slightly. It was obviously the Velvet Room, but it wasn't the Velvet Room he remembered. Strangely enough, it was a bus, but the interior was more akin to a limousine than public transport. He was currently sitting on a seat that curved to his right, noting the cushioning of the seat, soft and slightly squishy, causing him to feel more relaxed. To his left was a full-fledged bar, stocked to the brim with fancy wine and champagne, a wide-screen plasma TV and a bowl of expensive-looking peanuts and pretzels out for the taking. It was manned by a vaguely familiar woman dressed as a blue bartender holding onto what seemed to be a Persona Compendium. Her eyes, hair and pale skin reminding him of Elizabeth. Though, for some reason seemed surprised by his presence, pausing for a second and staring at him, before she went back to work cleaning the bar. And in front of him was Igor, his creepy wide eyes and smile ever present, sitting in his chair with a table in front of him with a curtain behind him, preventing Minato from identifying the driver. Out the windows, Minato couldn't see a thing due to a heavy amount of fog.

"It has been a long time… Minato Arisato." Igor said.

"Likewise." Minato replied. "Though, not as long for me than you."

"Of course." Igor said with a small chuckle. "Now do not worry, you are fast asleep in the real world. It seems fate has dropped you and your friends at a different place and a different time. For how you arrived, I'm afraid that mystery must be discovered on your own."

"So, you have no idea. Great." Minato groaned before looking around. "What happened to the Velvet Room? And where's Elizabeth?"

"The Velvet Room takes many shapes and forms, often reflecting the journey and destination of the current guest of the Velvet Room. For example, your version of the Velvet Room was a elevator that continuously climbed higher and higher, while another may be prison where the guest is instead a prisoner." Igor explained. "As for Elizabeth… she has departed from the Velvet Room, and it is unlikely she will return."

"Can I ask why?" Minato asked as he leaned forward.

"It is for her to answer." Igor answered. "Now, your contract has been frozen for quite some time, but soon you will be a guest in the Velvet Room once more. Remember, by becoming a guest in the Velvet Room, you must take responsibility for all your actions, and you must face the consequences for all your choices. This coming year will not be any easier than your previous journey, so we will do everything in our power to aid you." Minato nodded at this. He did it once before and so far he was relatively alright. He needed all the help he can get if he wanted to return back to 2009, and he was sure the Velvet Room would be a massive aid in doing so.

"Thank you Igor." Minato said.

"You are welcome." Igor replied with a slight bow. "But for now, time still ticks forward in the real world. We will meet again, and when you do, you will not be alone. But remember, your bonds will play a much more important role than your previous journey." Before Minato could ask, his eyelids started to feel heavy. Before he knew it, he woke up in the Amagi Inn and still in his Yasogami uniform. He had forgotten to take it off before sleeping. He was still somewhat tired from the Midnight Channel and his headache hadn't gotten any better. He saw that the others were getting ready for school now, including Junpei, so with a heavy sigh he dragged himself out of bed and got ready for the day, the distant sounds of sirens being his music for now.

(Samegawa River)

"Are we gonna tell the others about that… TV World?" Yukari asked as she, Minato and Junpei walked to school, their umbrellas up to protect them from the rain. It was still slightly foggy, probably from last night. "It seems like it's connected to the murder of that announcer."

"We could, but we can't actually do anything there." Minato pointed out. "We all got sick from there and I doubt we'll be lucky enough to find an exit or that bear again. For now, we keep it to ourselves until we know more about it. I don't want to endanger the others or give them a chance to be trapped in there. Who knows what could've happened if we stayed there any longer? Plus, we don't know _how_ it's connected so would could possibly be chasing a Red Herring for all we know."

"Still, that place was freaking creepy." Junpei said with a shudder. "By the way, you didn't happen to hear sirens on the way here earlier?"

"There were sirens?" Yukari groaned as she held her forehead. "Sorry, I still don't feel well. This headache is gonna kill me." Minato frowned at that. He had a feeling but quickly ignored it and continued making his way to school, passing-by Yu who was listening to some girls gossiping while more sirens were heard in the distance.

(Afternoon)

"Attention all students and faculty. Please make you way to the gym right now for an assembly. I repeat, please make your way to the gym for an assembly." The loudspeaker announced. It was just after lunch and everybody was ready for their afternoon classes. It came completely out of nowhere and surprised many people within the school, including the members of SEES attending.

"An assembly? What could be the meaning of this?" Mitsuru muttered to herself as she, Akihiko, Minato, Junpei, Fuuka, Aigis, Yukari and Minato made their way there.

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this." Akihiko replied. They managed to get there before most of the students had arrived, so they had front row seats. Soon, Minato spotted Yu, Chie and Yosuke heading towards them. Chie was checking her phone while walking while Yosuke looked rather sad.

"Hey, did you see Saki Konishi here today?" Minato asked.

"No. No one's seen her in person since Tuesday." Mitsuru answered. Minato frowned at the information.

"Akihiko-senpai's right." Minato whispered to himself. "I have a bad feeling about this."

"Hey, Orpheus. Io. Hermes." Chie said from behind the attending SEES members.

"Hey yourself." Junpei replied before looking around. "Hey, where's Yukiko? Wasn't she here today?"

"I've been wondering that too." Chie said as she checked her phone again. "Yukiko said she'd be here after lunch."

"Do you have any idea why they're holding an assembly now?" Fuuka asked.

"My guess is as good as yours." Chie answered before noticing Yosuke's expression. He didn't seem like himself all day. No jokes. No smiles. Just… sad. "Hey, what's wrong, Yosuke?"

"Huh?" Yosuke said, snapping out of his thoughts. "Oh, it's nothing…"

"It doesn't seem like nothing, Yosuke." Yu spoke up, a frown on his face. Before Yu could question about Yosuke's depression, Ms. Sofue walked onto the stage and up to the microphone.

"Everyone, please settle down. The school assembly is about to begin." Ms. Sofue announced. The usually quirky and happy teacher seemed somber, which shocked those who knew her. Hell, she had even got rid of her Egyptian headdress and dowsing rod for the assembly. The gut feeling Minato had only worsened. "First, the Principal has something to say." She announced as the man walked up and took her place.

"I… regret to say that I have a terrible announcement for all of you." The principal said in a sad tone. From the looks of it, it seemed that he didn't want to do it. That they deserved to go through school without having to learn this fact. But he knew that he had to. It was one of the many tragedies of life everyone at some point had to go through. With a heavy heart, and a deep breath, he announced:

"One of our third-year students, Ms. Saki Konishi of Class 3... has passed away."

Suddenly, there was this uproar of whispers and gasps. Minato just looked down in respect for the recently deceased, but clenched his fists all the while.

"Wh-What!?" Fuuka exclaimed.

"A-Another one… dead…" Yukari whispered to herself, hugging herself while she shivered on the spot.

"Damn it." Akihiko growled.

"What the-why…" Mitsuru said, trying to understand why a fellow third year would be killed, or commit suicide so early in the year.

"Holy shit. You don't think…" Junpei said before he winced.

"It would be best if we offer condolences to friends and family of Saki Konishi." Aigis told everyone there.

"Passed away...!?" Chie exclaimed. Minato looked at Yu, who only bowed his head and prayed silently, Chie, who looked rather pale, and Yosuke, who only winced. As if he already knew.

"Ms. Konishi was found deceased early this morning." The principal continued. "The reasons behind her passing are currently under investigation by the police. If they ask you for your cooperation, I urge you, as students of this school, to provide only the facts. Ah, a-all right, please quiet down." As quickly as the whispers started they had stopped. "I have been assured by the faculty that there's been no evidence that bullying was involved in the incident. So mind what you say, not only to the police but to anyone who asks..."

"Found dead? How could this happen?" Chie couldn't help but ask. Minato and Yu noted that Yosuke looked away as soon as Chie asked the question. As the principal's address continued, Yu and Minato took a mental note to talk to Yosuke before the day ended.

They had a feeling he knew something.

(Some time later…)

"Ugh... I'm no stranger to death but… seeing someone alive and well, only to hear that they aren't..." Chie muttered to herself. Yu nodded as they walked down the hall. It was after the assembly that Minato, Chie and Yu knew that something was up with Yosuke, so they decided to track him down. They wanted to at least comfort Yosuke, all of them knowing about his crush on the deceased third-year. Junpei and Yukari overheard their conversation and wanted to offer their condolences as well, so they joined them. The principal announced that school would end early today in respect for Saki Konishi, so they had the time for it.

"She died the same way as the announcer, right? That's so creepy…" A nearby student said. Minato already wanted her and her friend to shove a sock in it. From just their tone and expressions, the death of Saki Konishi seemed to… excite them.

"Well, last time, it was from an antenna, but this time she was hanging from a telephone pole. It's gotta be a serial murder case..." The rumour-loving girl's said.

"Someone said the cause of death was some unknown poison."

"Unknown...? C'mon, this isn't some sci-fi drama. Oh, by the way, did you hear? Someone saw a girl that looked like Saki on that Midnight Channel thingie." This caught Minato, Yu, Yukari and Junpei's attention while Chie silently groaned.

"They said she totally looked like she was in pain. Isn't that scary?"

"Haha, sounds like someone had a nightmare. The media's been broadcasting their interviews with her nonstop, so maybe they just had Saki on the brain."

"And the news will be broadcasting this story too non-stop soon." Junpei grumbled darkly.

"Ugh, these people disgust me." Yukari said as the two girls walked off.

"Sheesh, it's easy to toss around theories if you're not personally involved, so you can't really blame them." Chie said with a frown on her face.

"But that doesn't give them the right to play detective." Yu said. Just as he said that, Yosuke approached the group.

"Hey…" Yosuke said, still looking a bit sad. "Did you check out the Midnight Channel last night?"

"Yosuke! Not you too!" Chie exclaimed.

"I thought you would show some more respect for the dead, Hanamura." Yukari said, glaring the headphone wearing boy.

"Don't you dare even think I don't care about Saki-senpai, you stupid bitch!" Yosuke yelled at Yukari, shocking the entire group. Minato just glared at Yosuke, non-verbally promising Yosuke would visit Saki if he continued.

"Yosuke! Calm down." Yu said. He could understand Yosuke's anger but it didn't give him the right to yell at the innocent _and_ play detective.

"Ugh. Sorry, just… listen to me for a sec." Yosuke said, now calm and yet tired. "Something kept bothering me, so... I watched the Midnight Channel again." He then swallowed the saliva forming in his mouth before continuing. "And… I think the girl on the screen... was Saki-senpai."

"Huh?" Junpei said. "You think Saki Konishi was on the Midnight Channel?"

"There's no mistaking it. Senpai looked like... she was writhing in pain. And then, she disappeared from the screen." Yosuke explained.

"What the…?" Yukari whispered out.

"You heard Senpai's body was found in a similar situation as that announcer's, right?" Yosuke continued. "Well, remember that guy you told us about? How he was all excited that his soulmate was the announcer? Maybe... just maybe, but Ms. Yamano might've been on that Midnight Channel before she died, too."

"So the whole soulmate thing…" Junpei started. "It isn't showing people their soulmate. It… people…"

"People who show up on the Midnight Channel die?" Minato guessed.

"I can't say for sure. But something tells me... I just can't dismiss it as coincidence." Yosuke said.

"Oh my God…" Yukari said quietly, with Chie looking worryingly at Yosuke.

"Plus, remember what that bear thing said? How that place was dangerous, and we should leave before the fog clears?" Yosuke continued.

"Yeah. He also said that people from our side are being thrown into the TV World." Minato pointed out. "It's been bothering me all day now that I think about it."

"And that room with the noose and the posters…" Junpei added in.

"See. There's so much evidence there has to be a connection." Yosuke said. "Couldn't that world in the TV have something to do with Senpai and the announcer's death!?" He then turned to Yu. "Well? What do you think?"

"…You might be right." Yu replied after mulling over the facts. There was too much evidence to say that everything they saw was just a coincidence.

"...So it's not just me, huh?" Yosuke said with a small smile. "If there is a connection, then it's a good bet that the two of them went inside that world. That would explain the posters in that room. Which means... if we look around, we might find a place that has something to do with Senpai, too." Chie gasped as she realized what Yosuke was talking about.

"Yosuke… don't tell me…" Chie said, her voice barely a whisper.

"Yeah. I'm thinking about going in again." Yosuke announced. Minato noted the fire in his eyes. "I want to find out for myself."

"D-Don't do this..." Chie tried to reason with the grief-stricken boy. "You should just let the police handle this and-"

"You think we can rely on the police!? They haven't even made any progress on the _announcer's_ case! Besides, even if we told them about the world inside the TV, there's no way they're gonna believe us!" Yosuke shouted out, interrupting the kung-fu fan. "When I saw her, I tried to reach into the TV to save her, or something. Yet, I couldn't do jackshit! I _watched_ Senpai die in front of me with only glass screen between us. I can't just let it go!" Yosuke then felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked and saw it was Yu. He sighed and pushed the hand off. "If I'm completely off-base with this, that's fine. It's just... I need to know why Senpai had to die like this." Yosuke said, his voice cracking as tears started to well up in his eyes.

" _Yosuke_ …" Everyone else either whispered or thought.

"After what I've seen and what I've put together, there's no way I can ignore it now." Yosuke explained before turning to Minato and Yu. "Sorry... but you're the only people who can help me in getting back in there. I'm gonna go get ready. I'll be waiting for you at Junes." And with that, Yosuke ran off.

"I can kinda understand how he feels..." Chie admitted. "But we can't be sure we'll be able to get out safely again. What should we do?"

"He's gonna get himself killed." Yukari said. "If not worse."

"But he's not gonna let this go any time soon." Junpei pointed out. "I say we help him."

"Wh-Are you crazy!?" Yukari exclaimed. "We don't have-"

"I know! But if it was Chidori I would go to the ends of the Earth to find the bastard who killed her!" Junpei growled. "Sorry, Yuka-tan, but I'm gonna go too. The least I can do is make sure he stays alive."

"Hey, WAIT!" Yukari called out. But it was too late, Junpei had already left the building. "Ugh! Those idiots!" Yukari then quickly turned to Minato. "Minato-kun, we have to stop them." She quickly whispered to her Leader.

"This has 'bad idea' written all over it." Minato muttered as he, Yukari and soon Yu and Chie ran to Junes, hoping to prevent Junpei and Yosuke from killing themselves.

(After School)

(Junes)

Minato, Yu, Yukari and Chie arrived at Electronics Department and quickly found Yosuke and Junpei waiting for them at the large TV, holding onto various objects. Only Yosuke had a rope tied around his waist. "You guys came." Yosuke said with smile.

"Yeah, to stop you idiots!" Yukari exclaimed. "You really shouldn't do this. It's too dangerous. Especially without… you know."

"We have that covered, Io-tan." Junpei said with a wink.

"Plus, we already know. We aren't stupid." Yosuke said. He internally sighed when everyone else gave them a look of doubt. "But we were able to come back once, right? If we go in from the same location, maybe we'll meet that bear again."

"'Maybe' isn't good enough!" Chie shouted out.

"Look, I can't just act like everyone else and pretend this has nothing to do with me." Yosuke argued.

"Yeah, I get that, but this doesn't involve you Jun-I mean, Hermes!" Yukari pointed out.

"I know it doesn't involve me, but that's point of being a hero, Io-tan." Junpei replied with a wink.

"By getting yourselves _killed_!" Both Chie and Yukari exclaimed in unison.

"It may be true but-" Chie started but realized Yosuke was no longer listening to her.

"Hey, Orpheus. Yu. Could you guys just walk away?" Yosuke asked.

"…I don't have the heart to." Minato admitted with a sigh.

"Me too." Yu said softly before looking at Chie and Yukari. "But I'm worried about Chie and Io. There's no telling what might happen over there."

"Yeah. It'll only be me, you, Orpheus and Hermes." Yosuke explained. "And don't worry, we're not going in without a plan." He then handed the end of the rope to Chie. "Chie, I'm leaving you in charge of this."

"Um, are you sure that's a good idea?" Minato asked, noting that it was just normal rope and that it was… rather short.

"Don't worry about it." Yosuke said off-handedly. "We'll just go in with this tied to me, and Chie here will hold onto this and wait here. Once we find out everything we need to know and we can't find the bear, I'll just tug on this and we'll be out."

"Wh-What? Then, this is a lifeline? C'mon, wait a sec..." Chie stuttered out, the weight of four lives on her shoulders now.

"But… what if the rope's too short?" Yukari pointed out. "Because if you run out of rope before you reach the bottom…"

"Oh! By the way, this is just in case." Junpei said as he and Yosuke kindly gave the Fools their weapons and some Medicine.

"Alright…" Yu said as he grabbed the Golf Club. It was a bit heavier than he anticipated but he could do some serious damage with it. "Thanks Yo-"

"It's a Stick." Minato deadpanned as he stared at Junpei, getting the attention of the others. "We could possibly be going into a combat situation… and you gave me a Stick. To defend myself. A _Stick_."

"W-Well it was all that I could afford after buying Io-tan's weapon." Junpei tried to explain himself.

"Wait, you got me something?" Yukari had to ask. Junpei happily handed her the weapon he bought from Junes.

It was a toy pink Phoenix Featherman R bow that was barely the size of her forearm with suction cup arrows.

"…This is why we let Leader buy all the weapons." Yukari deadpanned at Junpei, both she and Minato noting the Metal Baseball Bat on his back.

"…Where did you get this?" Yu asked Yosuke.

"Stole it from the Bargain Bin." Yosuke answered as they watched Yukari and Minato test their weapons out on Junpei. He then pulled out the wrenches he had hidden underneath his uniform. "Got these from home."

"Hm. Nice." Yu replied. "Thanks for club."

"Well, it's better than going empty-handed." Yosuke said with a wink before becoming serious. "Alright... let's go. There's no use wasting any more time." The three members of SEES stopped their antics and nodded. Now, Yu, Minato, Yosuke and Junpei were in front of the TV, ready to dive in. "Chie, whatever you do, don't let go of the rope!" Yosuke said before turning towards the TV. "TV World, here we come." Yosuke muttered to himself as the boy stepped into the TV.

"H-Hey! I said wait!" Chie called out, but was too late. Yukari saw that the boys were gone and decided to help Chie keep the rope in the real world. But after a few tugs, the rope snapped, causing both the girls to collapse onto their knees. "See? I knew this wasn't gonna work…" Chie said, feeling like she was going to cry.

"Minato-kun." Yukari whispered out, staring at the TV in front of her. "Please. Be safe."

 **-Midnight Channel-**

 **WHAM! WHAM!**

"Ow…" Yosuke and Junpei groaned in pain after landing flat on their faces.

Thud! Thud!

"Getting easier and easier with every visit." Minato noted after both he and Yu landing perfectly in a three-point pose. Both boys then noticed that Yosuke's lifeline had snapped. "Oh no…"

"…Well, considering the alternative, we should be glad he's still in one piece." Yu pointed out.

"Ugh… how do you guys do that?" Junpei groaned as they peeled themselves off the floor. "Well, at least we're here."

"And we still can't see a damn thing. Great." Yosuke added in but smirked as he noticed their surroundings. "But look, this is the same place as last time! So they are connected from place to place!"

"Good to know." Junpei moaned in pain. "Maybe we can find a TV that'll let us land on some pillows or something."

"Maybe even dakimakura!" Yosuke said with hope in his voice.

"Yeah…" They both said as they stared dreamily off into the distance with drool running out their mouths.

"…I-I'm not sure how to react." Yu admitted.

"You get used to it." Minato told the grey-haired boy, until a voice called from behind them.

"Y-You guys..." the bear said as he emerged from the fog. "Why'd you come back?" He then frowned (somehow, but then again his mouth did move when he talked) as he figured something out. "I get it! You're the ones behind this!"

"Hey, it's that monkey from yesterday!" Junpei said before realizing something himself. "Wait, what the hell did he just say?"

"I'M A BEAR!" The bear yelled at Junpei. "And lately, I can tell someone's been throwing people in here. It's making this world more and more messed up. This is the second time you guys came here. And I don't think anyone forced you in. That means you're the most suspicious!" He then went into (what "could" be passed off as) a battle stance. "You guys must be the ones throwing the people in here, raaaawr!"

"Hell no!" Junpei shouted out.

"Don't label us like that." Yu deadpanned.

"Shut up…" Minato said in the same tone.

"All of the above!" Yosuke called out. "I mean, what're you talking about!? 'Throwing people in'!? If someone was thrown in here and they couldn't get out, they might die! Who would do such a—" Yosuke suddenly had a pause in thought. "Wait a sec. All this talk about someone throwing people in here... does he mean Senpai and the announcer? Did that "someone" throw those two in here?" He then turned to the others. "H-Hey... what do you think?" The others just stared at him silently. "…What?"

"…Dude, what do you think?" Minato said, breaking the silence. "It's highly likely they were thrown in here. What do you think we're here in the first place? It's already been established that the announcer and Konishi were thrown in here by someone. Seriously, are you even paying attention to your own explanations? Though, how the hell they figured out there was a whole world inside the TV…"

"Huh? I-Um… well…" Yosuke muttered as he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "I thought… maybe there was the off chance they just… fell in. They were accidents. But now, I know for sure it was murder."

"Yeah, because so many people trip and fall face-first into the TV by complete accident." Yu said sarcastically. Meanwhile, a certain delinquent sneezed and (somehow) accidentally punched someone in the face, knocking them out cold. He would be arrested later that day.

"Hey, we can't just eliminate those types of things happening no matter how improbable it is." Yosuke said. "No stone unturned!"

"I think you meant 'Impossible'." Junpei pointed out.

"L-Look, let's just assume the bear is telling the truth." Yosuke said.

"That's because he probably is. He's just probably dumb. Kinda like you right now." Minato interrupted.

"I'm right here! What are you guys talking about!?" The bear called out.

"F-Fine. Sheesh. You make one mistake…" Yosuke muttered before shaking his head. "Anyway, whoever's been throwing people in here has been throwing them in with the intent to kill. That's obvious to all of us now."

"Are you sure?" Yu asked jokingly.

"I _am_ sure, dammit! Seriously, enough with that!" Yosuke called out before calming down. " _Anyway_ the million yen question is, however, why the announcer? Why Saki-senpai…"

"Seriously! What're you guys mumbling about?" The bear shouted in frustration. "Why'd you come here, anyways!? It's a one-way door! You can't get out once you're in! Remember? How _I_ had to let you guys out?"

"Yeah, whatever." Yosuke said off-handedly before smirking at the bear. "We don't need your help this time! See, this time we have a lifeli—" Yosuke then held up the snapped rope, which he and Junpei proceeded to stare at for several seconds.

"…By the way, the rope snapped." Yu spoke up. "At least you're in one piece."

"And you tell us _now_!?" Junpei exclaimed.

"I knew that rope was too short…" Minato muttered. Yosuke growled in frustration as he untied the rope from his waist and threw it into the fog.

"H-Hey! You better let us out once we're done investigating here!" Yosuke told the bear.

"Grrrrr! I'm the one who wants to investigate!" The bear retorted with a cute, angry expression on his face. "I've lived here for a long time. But it's never been noisy like this till now. Do you have proof!? _Prove_ to me you're not throwing people in here!"

"Proof!?" Junpei exclaimed in surprise.

"It doesn't work that way..." Yu pointed out.

"Shut up." Minato groaned.

"All of the above!" Yosuke called out. "…Again."

"See! So it is you guys!" The mysterious bear said accusingly.

"For the last time, it's not us, so we've got nothing to prove to you!" Yosuke said, growing more and more frustrated. "Hey, you better answer our questions. This isn't like last time, when we came here by accident. We're dead serious!" Seeing that they were getting nowhere, Minato decided to step up.

"Look. People have died in our world and it's possible that the culprit won't stop at just two bodies." Minato explained calmly. "Every time the fog appears, a dead body shows up with it. We're only here to gather clues, so if you have any information, about this world or anyone else here, anything will do. Please, aid us in our investigation."

"A dead body? Whenever the fog appears?" The bear muttered to himself, going over the two facts given to it. "I know that if it's foggy on your side, the fog lifts here. It's really dangerous when the fog lifts. That's when the Shadows get violent." Suddenly, it clicked to him. "Aaaah... I get it..."

"WHOA WHOA WHOA! HOLD UP!" Junpei shouted out, waving his arms around. "Did you just say… did you just say there are _Shadows here_!? WHAT!?"

"Well, that's just perfect…" Minato groaned. He could feel his headache worsening.

"If you get it, then explain it to us, dammit!" Yosuke yelled out. "If it's foggy on our side, it isn't in here? Shadows get violent? Wait a minute…" Yosuke said as he turned to Junpei and Minato. "You… know about these Shadows things?" Minato and Junpei just looked at each other.

"Look, it's a very long story but right now we need to leave. Now." Minato ordered.

"Thank you!" The bear cheered out.

"…What?" Yosuke asked in surprised. "What do you mean we need to leave!?"

"Look, Yosuke. I wouldn't argue with him. If we encounter Shadows, we can't grantee you'll make it out alive." Junpei explained. "We're way over our heads, especially without any real way to defend ourselves against them."

"What the-We have weapons! We have supplies! And I can hold my own in a fight! And I'm sure Narukami can hold his own too." Yosuke called out as he pulled out his wrenches. "I need to know why Senpai died! We can't just leave now!"

"You don't understand. Shadows are a serious threat and without our… guns we can't do anything about them." Minato tried to reason with Yosuke. "Once we do, we'll investigate Saki's death but right now we need to leave."

"I'm not leaving." Yosuke said firmly. "I just need to know. And no one's gonna stop me."

"Yeah." Yu said, stepping forward taking out his Golf Club. "We can't just run away now. Not until Yosuke gets his closure. Who knows, we might even figure out who the culprit is and prevent more whoever this person is from killing anyone else."

"Thanks Yu." Yosuke said in surprise.

"Anything I can do to help." Yu replied. Minato knew it would be dangerous and/or stupid to continue on, especially with all the risks involved now, including the possibility of Apathy Syndrome making a comeback, but he knew if he just dragged them out, they'll just jump back into the TV when they weren't looking.

"…Fine." Minato sighed in defeat. "But as soon as we see a Shadow, we run. Got it?" Yu and Yosuke nodded at those terms.

"Aw man, this is gonna suck, isn't it?" Junpei groaned.

"One way to find out." Minato muttered turning to the bear. "So, when the fog lifts here, it becomes foggy in the Real World and the Shadows get aggressive. Am I getting this right so far?"

"Yes, and that's why I said to hurry back!" The bear told the group. "It's dangerous when that happens! Okay, no more questions. I know you guys did it! You better stop right now!"

"WE'RE NOT THE CULPRITS!" Everyone shouted at the bear.

"We've told you and told you, we're not the ones doing it!" Yosuke yelled out. "I've about had it with you! Why the hell won't you listen to what we're saying!?" Suddenly, the bear started to cower and shiver.

"I-I'm just saying... you might be the culprits. I'm just making sure..." The bear said nervously.

"He still doesn't believe us…" Junpei groaned. "Man, this bear is annoying."

"I think I'm getting a migraine just to talking to him." Yosuke groaned before looking around. "What is this place, anyways? It looks like a TV studio. Is something being filmed here?"

"I don't see any cameras…" Minato pointed out.

"Maybe it's one of those hidden camera shows." Junpei guessed before realizing something. "Wait, does that mean we're being filmed right now?"

"I don't think so. But… someone must've been filming Senpai and the announcer's deaths like some sort of sick snuff film…" Yosuke muttered to himself before looking at the mascot. "Hey bear! Is that weird show being filmed here?" The bear only looked confused at Yosuke's question.

"Weird show? Filmed? What does that mean?" The bear asked.

"You don't know what 'film' means?" Junpei spoke up. "We only need to know if there's anyone else here when the fog lifts to film the Yamano-Konishi Snuff Film." The bear continued to look at the boys confusingly.

"I don't get it..." The bear admitted. "This world has always been like this. No one has ever done that 'filming' thing here."

"'Always been like this'?" Yu repeated. "What do you mean by that?"

" _I mean_ only me and Shadows are here!" The bear called out. "I keep telling you that!"

"Ugh... we don't know what these Shadow things are! Or what you are either, for that matter!" Yosuke exclaimed in frustration, having enough of the bear mascot.

"Actually, Shadows arise from human emotions so technically they're just the physical form of all human feelings and emotions." Minato explained. "…I think."

"Okay, now we know Shadows but you're still the mystery here!" Yosuke continued. "You keep telling us to prove our innocence, but you're the most suspicious thing here! Maybe you're the real culprit! And what's with that stupid costume!? I'd say it's time you showed your face!" And with that Yosuke proceeded to rip off the bear's mask off.

Only to see he was hollow inside.

"What the Hell!?" Junpei exclaimed in surprise.

"It's completely empty…" Minato and Yu said in unison.

"J-Just what the Hell are you?" Yosuke asked fearfully as he dropped the head onto the ground. "It's freaking empty inside!"

"…It explains so much though." Yu commented.

"Er, no it doesn't." Junpei deadpanned. The bear searched for his head for a few seconds before popping it back on.

"Me? The culprit? I wouldn't do such a thing! I just live here. I just want to live here peacefully..." The bear said in a sad tone. The group couldn't help but feel sorry for him. "Okay. I'll believe that you guys aren't the culprits. But I want you to find the real guy who did all this. You have to stop him. Promise me, or else... I'm not gonna let you guys outta here."

"WHAT!?" The guys exclaimed.

"Y-You little…!" Yosuke growled as he went to charge at the bear, but was held back by Yu.

"Son of a bitch…" Junpei said in awe at the terms the bear gave. "I'm slowly starting to regret this more and more."

"This can't keep going on! My home here will be a complete mess!" The bear whined, tears welling up in his eyes. "And then... and then I... Waaah...!"

"Why are you crying…?" Minato deadpanned.

"Man, this whole thing is weirding me out…" Yosuke mumbled to himself before turning to the group. "Hey, what should we do?" Everyone else took a minute to think about it.

"Could this be…" Yu muttered to himself before looking at the mascot, recalling something he was told some time ago.

"You're the only ones I can ask. Will you promise me...?" The bear begged.

"Alright, I promise." Yu said.

"It's not like we have much of a choice." Minato muttered to himself. "Okay, we promise we'll find the culprit." The bear looked at the two in awe at their responses.

"Th-Thank you!" The bear said thanked the two.

"Damn bear... practically holding a gun to our heads..." Yosuke grumbled to himself. "But... it's true that we came here to figure things out. So far, we're completely in the dark." He then smirked a little. "Look for the culprit, huh? Bring it on! You got my word, too."

"Eh, I've got nothing better to do anyway." Junpei said with a grin. "Got my word also."

"Might as well introduce ourselves." Yosuke suggested. "I'm Yosuke Hanamura, and these are my buddies Yu Narukami, Orpheus and Hermes. You got a name?"

"Teddie!" The bear answered happily, causing everyone to sweatdrop.

"Your last name doesn't happen to be Kuma, huh?" Minato guessed, causing the bear to gasp.

"How did you know!?" The now named Teddie Kuma gasped. The revelation of Teddie's full name caused everyone to face palm.

"Figures…" Yosuke groaned. "But how are we supposed to find the culprit in the first place?"

"I dunno..." Teddie said. "Oh, but I know where the last person came in."

"The last person? You mean Saki-senpai!?" Yosuke exclaimed in surprise.

"I mean the person who came in and disappeared last time. I dunno the name." Teddie explained. "I'll take you there. You might find clues." He then remembered something and quickly searched the hidden pockets in his suit. "Oh, one thing first. You should put these on." Teddie said as he showed the group four pairs of glasses. Two were dark grey, while the other two were orange. "I always make sure to make spares just in case.

"These look like they were made professionally." Junpei commented as Minato and Yu took the grey sets while he and Yosuke took the orange sets. When they put, suddenly everything became completely clear. Minato took off his glasses in surprise and saw that it was still foggy in the Midnight Channel. He put his glasses back on and it was clear again. At the edges of his vision, he could see the fog. Minato wondered how Teddie made these glasses without fingers.

"Whoa! The difference is like night and day. With these on, it's like the fog doesn't exist." Yosuke said.

"Yeah." Minato said with a nod. His headache also faded a little when he put the glasses on. He then looked at Yu trying on his set of glasses. "They suit you."

"Thanks." Yu replied before turning to Teddie. "And thank you Teddie for the glasses."

"They'll help you walk through the fog." Teddie said. "Well, I've been here for a long time. So you can rely on me!" He said quite bravely, before weakly adding. "Uh... but I can only show you where the place is. You guys will have to defend yourselves."

"What happened to relying on you!? Th-There better not be any of those Shadows things! You understand!?" Yosuke said. "I mean, we brought weapons but they're mostly just for show!"

"But it's the best we can get right now. Any weapons are better than no weapons." Junpei said.

"Anyway, we're probably not going to use them much. If we encounter Shadows, we run and leave as soon as possible. We can try again tomorrow if we have to." Minato told everyone.

"You're right about that." Yu admitted as he looked at his Golf Club. "Let's just hope we don't encounter any."

"We just got here! If it's so dangerous, why don't you do something instead of relying on us!?" Yosuke called out. Teddie just shook his head in response.

"Uh uh. No way. I've got no muscles." Teddie said. "Oh! Oh! I'll give you guys moral support from a safe distance! How's that sound?"

"It sounds like you're gonna use us as meat shields…" Junpei mumbled quietly.

"Can Teddie really not fight?" Yu asked, one of his eyebrows raised in curiosity. Minato decided to answer this by walking up to Teddie and lightly poking him in the forehead. He went down in an instant, even landing a few inches away as Teddie helplessly flailed his arms around.

"N-Noooo…." Teddie cried out.

"I think that answers your question." Minato said as they all sweatdropped at the scene.

"Ugh, this is so lame..." Yosuke muttered. "We swore to find the culprit and this is all the backup we get?"

"You know what, we should've just gone back while we still could." Junpei groaned quietly. "Man, I wish Fuuka was here…"

"Oh yeah. Can I ask you something? Who's this Saki-senpai person? Someone you know?" Teddie asked, still flailing on the ground. Yosuke just winced at that.

"That doesn't matter right now." Yosuke sighed. "Anyways, at least now we know Senpai might have been thrown in here. Maybe we can find more information, too. Let's get moving, guys."

"W-Waaaait!" Teddie cried out as the guys started to leave. Yu and Minato quickly ran back to pick Teddie up.

(Saki's Twisted Shopping District)

After walking for what seemed like hours through the fog, they eventually arrived at their destination. "Hey, isn't this the Shopping District?" Junpei spoke up. The guys looked around and saw that it was. The main differences were that it had a sickly yellow hue, and the sky was swirling black and red. It also had this suppressive atmosphere to the place. All in all, they were feeling uncomfortable just being there.

"You think this place is just an alternate version of Inaba?" Minato suggested.

"Can't really say for sure. We've only seen a small area of this place, it seems." Yu replied. "And I doubt we'll be able to explore every inch even if we tried."

"At least we didn't see any of those monsters on the way here…" Yosuke said. "But what's going on here!?"

"Some weird places have appeared here recently. Things are getting so tangled, I dunno what to do..." Teddie explained. The group looked behind them and noticed that Teddie was standing a good distance away from them.

"Uh... why are you standing so far from us?" Junpei asked.

"You better not be planning to high-tail it if something does show up." Yosuke called out.

"Of course not!" Teddie said defensively before looking sheepish. "I mean. Uh. I can't stand too close, you know. I'd get in your way…"

"That's just another way of saying we're your meat shields." Junpei groaned as Yosuke studied the alternate Shopping District. "Thanks…"

"Hrrrm. Man, they really went all out on this." Yosuke noted. "But out of all the places in town, why'd they replicate this one?"

"How should I know? This is reality for the one who's here." Teddie explained.

"As usual, nothing you say makes any sense." Yosuke sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose.

"The alternate Inaba theory is still up there." Minato spoke up. "But, if I remember right, Saki's parents run a liquor shop here."

"Yeah! Konishi Liquors!" Yosuke called out as he looked towards the shop. "We're not that far from there. If Saki-senpai really was here…" Yosuke then trailed off. They all nodded at each other and quickly made their way to the liquor shop in no time.

"Another red vortex…" Minato commented. Instead of a door leading into the shop, they were met with another red vortex, just like the one they went through that led to the creepy room. Minato expected whatever the vortex led to would be following the tradition.

"Looks like this is it." Junpei muttered.

"Yeah. This is definitely the store Senpai's parents run." Yosuke said. "Does this mean... Senpai disappeared here? What could've happened?"

"There doesn't seem to be any signs of conflict out here…" Yu analysed. Teddie decided to sniff around for threats, only to gasp and step back.

"W-Wait a second. Th-They're here!" Teddie called out.

"What?" Yosuke asked as Minato and Junpei got out their weapons.

"...Shadows. I had a feeling they were going to attack!" Teddie replied. Just as Teddie said that, something started to emerge from the vortex. Two piles of dark slime with masks appeared and fell to the ground. Suddenly, they started to take form into black and pink balls with only big mouths and even bigger tongues. "Huh? Uh…" Yosuke quickly stumbled back at the sight. "What the-!"

"Shadows!" Junpei called out.

"Everyone! Run!" Minato ordered. Yosuke scrambled to get up as everyone started to make a retreat. More Shadows appeared, bursting out of windows and even the steel shutters of closed shops. They were completely surrounded with no way to escape. "Shit…"

"AH! We're surrounded!" Teddied cried out. "I'm too furry to die!"

"Th-This can't be happening…" Yosuke whimpered out. Minato looked around for any opening to escape but found it futile. There was literally no way out and he doubted any of them would survive if they were to run now.

'Surt. Thor. Mara. Orpheus. Anybody!' Minato thought frantically. He knew it was useless without an Evoker but he hoped the Personas he had with him would give him strength. Suddenly, his headache flared up. Much, much worse. 'Not now!'

 _ **I am thou…**_

Minato and Yu suddenly clutched their heads, feeling as if millions of voices were screaming in their heads.

 _ **Thou art I...**_

The Shadows were coming closer and closer. Junpei was really worried for Minato. He couldn't fight them by himself.

 _ **The time has come!**_

'Who are you!?' Yu and Minato yelled mentally at whoever was talking to them. Pain in their heads seemed to have gotten worse.

 _ **Open thine eyes, and call forth what is within!**_

Suddenly, all their pain was gone. Their minds no longer foggy with pain, but clear as day.

Suddenly, they felt something. Something strange, yet familiar. Weak, yet powerful.

Their eyes snapped opened as they felt something their hands.

Yu only stared at the blank card in his palm before smirking as it slowly turned into a Fool Tarot card.

Minato only had a mad grin as he saw a glowing blue handgun in his hand.

They both knew what to do.

"Per." Yu said as the card became engulfed in blue flames as it slowly rose up into the air.

"So." Minato said as he twirled the gun around before putting the barrel against his head. Minato and Yu looked at each other before giving each other their biggest slasher smile.

"Na." They said in unison, before Yu crushed the card with his bare hands and Minato pulled the trigger.

*SHATTER*

"AAAHHH!" They both let out primal screams, feeling power flow through them. The very energy they exerted caused the Shadows to go back as two beings came into existence, deep from their very psyches.

Orpheus, the Father of Songs and Master of Strings and Izanagi, the Father of Japan and He-Who-Invites.

"Holy shit! Did he just shoot himself!?" Yosuke yelled out. "What the Hell is happening!?"

"No way…" Junpei said in awe before smiling. "They're… Yu has… Minato can…" Minato and Yu looked behind their backs and only gave them reassure smiles. Teddie, feeling comforted by their expressions, felt brave and quickly put his nose to work.

"This power…" Yu said as he looked at his Persona before looking at the Shadows. He only smirked at them. "Alright, lend me your strength, Izanagi!"

"You're late." Minato told his Persona before giving it a small smile. "But at least it wasn't like the first time." He said before calmly putting on his headphones and started searching through his music. He smirked when he found the perfect song, something he recently downloaded. "Okay, let's see what you got." He said before pressing play.

(Cue Time To Make History -Dual Mix-)

"Stay calm and listen!" Teddie called out as Yu and Minato took out their weapons. "Some Shadows have weaknesses. If you can pinpoint that weakness and take advantage of it, the battle will be a lot easier!" He then took a quick sniff. "I can tell these guys have a weakness too! Try stuff out and see what works! I'll keep track of what attacks have what effects on enemies!"

"Okay. Orpheus, Agi!" Minato called out. His Persona nodded and quickly went to work, shooting out a small fireball towards the Shadows. While Orpheus went to work, Minato quickly saw a few Shadows charging at them. He quickly swung his Stick at them and knocked them away. As he felt his energy drain as Orpheus attacked, he noticed that his Fire attacks weren't doing anything special. "So they aren't weak to Agi…"

"Let me try." Yu said before pointing at a Shadow. "Izanagi, Zio!" Izanagi quickly summoned a small bolt of lightning upon his enemies. Yu smirked as the attack quickly downed the Shadow. "They're weak to Electricity!"

'And of course I don't have my other Personas…' Minato thought before blasting away another Shadow.

"Nice going!" Junpei cheered on, before quickly ducking under the tongue of a Slipping Halabrie. "Oh no you don't!" Junpei shouted out before swinging his bat with all his might. Even without his Persona, he was able to knock it a fair distance away. "HOME RUN!" Yosuke shook himself out of his trance when he saw he was the only one not contributing in the fight and quickly took out his wrenches.

"Hey, don't count me out!" Yosuke called out before kicking away a Shadow that managed to sneak up on Yu. "I got your back!"

"Thanks!" Yu said before getting Izanagi to Cleave through a few Shadows before blocking an attack from his left and pushing the Shadow away before it was destroyed by Orpheus.

"These guys aren't letting up." Minato grumbled to himself as more Shadow came, before stabbing his Stick into a Shadow and then using it like a make-shift mace before kicking it off and getting Orpheus to destroy it. Unfortunately, it destroyed his only weapon.

"MINATO, HEADS UP!" Junpei called out. Minato didn't ask any questions and quickly caught a Metal Pipe Junpei managed to find, probably collateral from all the Shadows, and quickly used it to fend off another Slipping Halabrie.

"Thanks Junpei!" Minato called back before getting back into the fray. The entire battle had become absolute chaos at this point. Shadows were being killed left and right as Minato and Yu pushed their Power of Persona to the limit. Teddie, unable to fight, was providing as much information as he could while also make sure everyone was in top condition. Minato couldn't help but feel impressed when Teddie even headbutt (or belly slam?) a Shadow away, though he was sure the mascot wasn't going to do that again. Soon, Minato realized they weren't surrounded anymore.

 _They_ were surrounding the Shadows.

"Should we show 'em who's boss!?" Yosuke called out, adrenaline rushing through his veins. Minato looked around and saw that everyone, including Teddie, were ready to go all out.

"Go for it!" Minato declared as he charged at the pile of Shadows.

"Good answer!" Yosuke said as he charged in as well.

"Bear pile on the enemy!" Teddie cried out before joining in.

"Get back here, you son of a _-_!" Junpei shouted out as he ran into the increasingly large ball of violence. Yu smirked, pushed up his glasses, and charged in as well.

"PERSONA!" Yu yelled out before jumping into the fray. After a few seconds, the cloud of violence vanished as everyone jumped away from the pile of Shadows. Minato landed in front of the pile, his back towards them as he flipped his hair over his eye, took off his headphones and put away his new Evoker into his pants.

(End Music)

"That wasn't anything special." Minato said, before all the Shadows exploded into nothingness. He saw the card of Orpheus land in his palm and slowly closed it into a fist. "Good to have you back, Orpheus." He whispered to himself before he collapsed onto his knees, now realizing how tired he was. Junpei saw this and quickly threw his Leader's arm over his shoulder. "Thanks… Junpei…"

"What would you do without me?" Junpei replied cockily, causing Minato to chuckle a little as they all regrouped in front of Konishi Liquors.

"Whoa…" Yosuke said as he and Yu approached the group in a similar manner to Minato and Junpei. "Wh-What was that? Did I hear you guys say 'Persona'!? What was it—I mean, what did you two do!? Hey, you think I can do it too...?"

"Well, if you have the potential." Junpei said.

"Hey, wait a minute..." Yosuke then realized. "You called each other 'Minato' and 'Junpei' back there. Are those your real names? Just who exactly are you guys?" Minato and Junpei sighed in response.

"We'll explain later, but for now…" Minato said before holding out his hand. "Minato Arisato."

"Junpei Iori." Junpei introduced himself as well. Yu and Yosuke quickly shook their hands.

"Man, that was so awesome!" Yosuke said, still pumped from the fight. "I mean, I thought we were going to die but then you two pull this out of nowhere… and why the Hell did you shoot yourself in the head!?"

"Yosuke, calm down. You're troubling Yu-sensei and Minato-sensei!" Teddie scolded the headphones wearing boy.

"It's a pretty valid qu-Wait, what!?" Yosuke exclaimed. "S-Sensei!?"

"Gosh almighty! You're amazing, Yu-sensei! Minato-sensei! I am one impressed bear!" Teddie said happily, completely ignoring Yosuke. "I can't believe you two were hiding such an amazing power! No wonder the Shadows were scared of you guys!" Teddie then gasped. "Are you the one who's able to bring people into this world?"

"I guess you could say that." Yu replied, with Minato nodding in agreement.

"Hah! That's what I thought! This is really something." Teddie said before turning to a thoroughly ticked off Yosuke. "Don't you think so, Yosuke?" Yosuke kindly responded by pushing the bear over, only for him to bounce back on his feet.

"Dude, you call these guys Sensei and then don't show me any respect!?" Yosuke called out. "Me and Junpei were in that fight too. Why can't we be Sensei to you too!?"

"If you think it's bad now, wait until Leader starts summoning others…" Junpei said as quietly as possible. "That's the curse of being the comic relief of the group."

"S-Sorry…" Teddie apologized. Suddenly, it hit Junpei.

"Wait a minute, why did Yu summon his Persona with a card, when Minato used an Evoker…?" Junpei muttered to himself. This actually stumped the group, but decided to leave it for another date.

"W-Well, Teddie's support wasn't bad, though. I gotta give him some credit for that." Yosuke admitted.

"Huh? R-Really...? Heehee." Teddie said, looking rather sheepish.

"At least we stand a chance against the Shadows now." Minato said as he started standing up with his own strength, though he knew he didn't have another full-fledged battle in him. And it looked like Yu didn't as well. While they had enough energy to defend themselves against smaller groups, that was it. They needed to get whatever they needed and get out.

"All right, if we keep this up, and I think we'll be fine from here on out. Now let's get back to the investigation!" Yosuke said confidently as everyone looked at the swirling red and black entrance to Konishi Liquors. "Man… I wonder what could have happened to Senpai here." Before they could even take a step forward, they started hearing voices, causing them all to get their guard up.

" _I wish Junes would go under…_ "  
" _It's all because of that store…_ "

"Wh-What the-?" Yosuke said, surprised at Junes being mentioned at all. What did Junes have to do with this? How could it relate to Saki's murder?

"What the-More Shadows?" Junpei guessed as he took out his Baseball Bat.

"No… I don't think so…" Minato replied as he frowned.

" _Oh, I heard that Konishi-san's daughter is working there. Oh my... how could she, with her family's business suffering like it is?_ " The voices continued. " _I heard their sales have gone downhill because of Junes._ " Minato continued to frown. If this really was what people were saying… maybe Saki really wasn't murdered? Either way, whoever badmouthed Saki was probably regretting it right now.

"S-Stop it..." Yosuke begged quietly.

" _That poor father...to have his own daughter working for the enemy. What a troublesome child..._ "

"The principal said bullying wasn't involved, but maybe it didn't happen inside the school…" Junpei guessed with a wince. Yu just frowned at that thought. Though, he doubt Saki would throw herself into the TV if that happened to be it.

"Hey… Hey Ted!" Yosuke called out. "You said that this place is reality for those that are here, right!? So, does that mean this was Senpai's reality when she wandered in here?"

"I only know about what's over here." Teddie informed.

"Fine…" Yosuke said before looking at the entrance. "Whatever's going on here, we'll find out ourselves!" And with that, the boys headed inside the store without a second thought. When they entered, the first thing they noticed was the room looked… Well, like absolute crap.

"This place looks trashed…" Junpei noted.

"Well, at least we found the crime scene." Minato muttered before hearing more voices.

"Dammit, not again…" Yosuke grumbled to himself.

"Where are these coming from?" Yu wondered out loud.

" _Saki, how many times do I have to tell you!?_ " The voice of a middle-aged man shouted out.

"Whoa. Is that… is that supposed to be Konishi's dad?" Junpei asked.

"Yeah." Yosuke said sadly. "I think that's him."

" _You know what the neighbors say about you, right!? Aren't you ashamed of yourself? You're the eldest daughter of a family who's owned this store for generations! Is it the money? Or did you meet some guy there? Just tell me why you have to work_ _ **there**_ _, of all places!_ " Saki's father continued.

"Looks like even her family's giving her a rough time." Minato noted with a frown before turning to Yosuke. "Did you know anything about this?"

"N-No…" Yosuke managed to say. "I-I can't believe this. She seemed like she had fun at work. She never said anything like this to me..." He then clenched his hands into fists. "You're telling me _this_ was how Senpai really saw things!?" Yosuke yelled out in anger.

"It's likely." Yu said grimly. "But we can't let this interfere with our investigation. Remember, we just need a clue into who killed Saki. Nothing more. We can work out motives and Saki's personal issues later." Despite it being somewhat cold, Yosuke knew he was right. Everyone looked around before Junpei got everyone's attention.

"Hey, what's over here?" Junpei muttered as he walked up to a nearby table that had shreds of photos on it. He picked up one of the shreds found something on it. "Hey, Yosuke. Check this out."

"Hm?" Yosuke went up to Junpei, who passed him the shred. "Hey… It's the photo we took the other day with the other part-timers at Junes." Yu and Minato walked up to the two and looked at the photo. The shred only depicted Yosuke with a goofy smile on his face and Saki smiling as best as she could.

"She isn't smiling." Minato noted.

"Huh?" Yosuke asked. "What are you talking about?"

"Her smile doesn't reach her eyes." Minato told the Junes employee as he took the shred. "See. Compare your eyes to hers." Yosuke looked closer at the photo and realized that Minato was right. His eyes were closed in upside-down U's with his arm around Saki's shoulder but she only stared at the camera. There was little to no joy in her eyes. At worst… it was misery.

 _I never had the chance to say it..._

"Hey. Isn't that…" Yu started.

"Is that Senpai's voice!?" Yosuke exclaimed.

"Is she talking to us beyond the grave!?" Junpei said in a panicked voice.

"No." Minato said as he narrowed his eyes. "I think… I think these were her last thoughts."

 _I always wanted to tell Hana-chan..._

"Huh? Me…?" Yosuke said, wondering why Saki was thinking about him. He was almost excited. Did she really…

 _...that he was a real pain in the ass._

The guys' eyes widened as soon as they heard this. Minato looked at Yosuke in pity as he saw the colour drain from his face. He looked like his whole world just shattered in front of him.

 _I was nice to him just because he was the store manager's son, that's all. But he takes it completely the wrong way and gets all enthusiastic... What a retard._

"P-Pain in the ass?" Yosuke whispered out as he clutched his chest. He wanted to stop listening. To put on his headphones and run away. But he told himself he couldn't. He needed… he wanted…

He didn't know anymore.

 _Who cares about Junes, anyway? Because of that store, our business is ruined, my parents hate me, the neighbors talk behind my back... I wish everything would just disappear..._

"I-It's a lie. This can't be..." Yosuke whispered to himself. "Senpai's not like that!"

"Yosuke. I don't think…" Minato tried to reason only to be interrupted.

" _ **It's so sad... I feel so sorry for myself. Boo hoo...**_ " A creepily familiar voice from behind them said. Everyone turned around, only to be met with…

"Y-Yosuke!?" Junpei exclaimed as he looked between to two, with the other Yosuke walking out from behind a curtain. The only differences between the Yosukes were that the other Yosuke didn't wear glasses, his shadows were accentuated had golden eyes and had this black and purple miasma emitting from him.

" _ **Actually, I'm the one who thinks everything's a pain in the ass.**_ " The other Yosuke laughed out.

"H-Huh? Two Yosukes?" Teddie exclaimed, looking both surprised and somewhat confused.

"Who are you!?" Yosuke shouted out as he faced his imposter. "I-I wouldn't think that..." Yosuke's Shadow only laughed at that.

" _ **Yeah, right. How long are you going to keep deluding yourself?**_ " Shadow Yosuke said. " _ **Screw the shopping district, and Junes too! You're sick of everything, especially living out in the sticks!**_ "

"What're you saying!? That's not true, I—" Yosuke said somewhat weakly.

"Alright, enough!" Junpei called out as he got out his Baseball Bat. "Quit spoutin' out crap! I may not known this guy long but like Hell I'm just gonna let you mess with him!"

" _ **Oh really? Because I get the feeling you're kidding yourself too!**_ " Shadow Yosuke told Junpei.

"Wh-What!?" Junpei exclaimed. Suddenly, Yosuke's Shadow started to turn into static before reforming… into Junpei.

" _ **You wanted to be the hero of this story! You wanted to be number one! And yet, you're always playing second fiddle to him**_." Shadow Junpei said, pointing at Minato. " _ **He's stronger. He's smarter. He has more friends. He gets all the girls. Hell, even when you cheaped out and gave him that dumb stick, he still managed to do better than you in every way. He even got his Persona back without even trying!**_ "

"Huh? What the-Shut up! You're lying!" Junpei yelled out, but a small part in his head telling him it was the truth. Shadow Junpei quickly turned back into Shadow Yosuke and smiled madly.

'Junpei…' Minato thought. He was really worried for the two at this point, and he was sure Yu and Teddie shared the same feelings. Was Junpei… jealous of him? Either way, they couldn't interfere, not unless they wanted to make it worse. Plus, they had no idea what this imposter was capable of.

" _ **And you.**_ " Shadow Yosuke said to the real Yosuke. " _ **You put on a good show of being carefree and happy-go-lucky 'cause you're so terrified of being alone. The more the merrier, right? You've gotta be surrounded by people to block out the pain of isolation. And what's this about checking out this world for Saki-senpai's sake? Hah! I know the real reason you came snooping...**_ "

"S-Stop it!" Yosuke begged in a panicked tone. He just wanted this asshole to shut up.

" _ **And I'm not done with you.**_ " Shadow Junpei said as he looked at the real Junpei. " _ **Acting all carefree and happy? What a joke! I'm sure dad will make sure to knock that smile off your dumb face. Like it will matter anyway considering you'll probably be forgotten, while Mr. Wild Card will go down in history as the asshole who can save the world with just his mind! I bet even 'Chidorita' will find him a better guy than you!**_ "

"Sh-S-Shut up…" Junpei said quietly.

" **Why so panicked? We thought we were just spouting bullshit!** " Shadow Yosuke laughed, but his voice was a twisted combination of both Junpei and Yosuke. " _ **Or maybe... we DO know everything you're thinking! Why's that? Because we ARE you! Both of you! You both just came because you two thought it sounded like a good time and a chance to be a hero! What else is there to do out in this shithole? A world inside the TV—now that's exciting! Maybe that'll show whose better! You two didn't have any other reasons for coming here, did you!?**_ "

"Wh-Why is this… _thing_ trying to be both of us at the same time!?" Junpei growled in frustration.

"That's not true..." Yosuke said, close to crying even. "Stop... stop it..."

" _ **You**_ _**guys are just trying to act like big shots. If all went well, hey, maybe you would both be heroes!**_ " Shadow Junpei/Yosuke continued. " _ **And that Senpai Yosuke was so sweet on? Her death was the perfect excuse for both of you!**_ "

"That's not true! What are you!? Who are you!?" Yosuke yelled out, having enough of the imposter telling him lie after lie.

"You better tell us or I swear…" Junpei growled as Shadow Yosuke/Junpei chuckled.

" _ **We already told ya.**_ " Shadow Yosuke/Junpei said. __" _ **We're you! Your Shadow! There's nothing we don't know about you two!**_ "

"Screw that! I don't know you!" Yosuke shouted out as loudly as he could. "You don't know either of us!"

"Like Hell you know us!" Junpei exclaimed. "I'm not him! I am myself!"

" **AND YOU CAN'T BE ME, YOU SON OF A BITCH**!" Both Yosuke and Junpei yelled out in unison. There a silence after that, both boys trying to catch their breath. Shadow Junpei/Yosuke only cackled madly at this.

" _ **That's right, say it again!**_ " The Shadow of the Wannabe Heroes said. They both hesitated, but the grin on the imposter's face pissed them off.

"You're not me! YOU'RE NOTHING LIKE ME!" Yosuke yelled out desperately, as if to convince himself.

"No way in a million years will you ever be me!" Junpei yelled out as well. "YOU AREN'T ME!"

Suddenly, both Yu and Minato felt that was a really bad idea. Especially when Shadow Yosuke/Junpei started to laugh.

'This is not gonna be good…' Both Yu and Minato thought as they started to take out their weapons.

" _ **Ha! That's right. We are NEITHER of you! I am ME now.**_ " Shadow Junpei/Yosuke said as the miasma started to flare, drawing more and more Shadows into it. Minato felt choked under the atmosphere of the liquor store now. " _ **I'm not any of you any more, see!?**_ " Suddenly, Shadow Yosuke/Junpei started to glow as Junpei started to yell in pain. It felt like something was tearing him apart from the inside.

"Junpei!" Minato cried out for his friend, unable to see what was happening and extremely worried for him.

"Yosuke!" Yu called out as he saw Yosuke starting to collapse.

"You're… not… me…" Yosuke managed to let out as he fell unconscious, while Junpei fell unconscious from the pain he endured. Then, the light died down, revealing the fact that they were no longer in the liquor store.

It was an arena.

(Cue I'll Face Myself -Battle- from Persona 4 -Reincarnation- Soundtrack)

Minato, Yu and Teddie stared in awe at the enemy in front of them. It could really only be described as a Disco Ninja Frog which vaguely represented what a superhero would look like, except the giant golden wings on its back and smaller wings on the back of each leg, wearing Hermes' helmet with those shuriken things popping out the holes, and has gold airplane wings on its sides.

All in all, it was a hideous fusion of Hermes and Yosuke's Shadow Berserk Form.

"Well… never seen this before…" Minato said quietly.

" _ **We are a Shadow… the true self…**_ " Shadow Yosuke/Junpei declared. " _ **And I'll burn and blow anything and everything away we hate.**_ " It then stared down at Yu and Minato. " _ **Including you!**_ "

"Teddie! Get Yosuke and Junpei out of here!" Yu commanded as they both jumped back, Minato pulling out his Evoker while Yu summoned his card.

"On it Sensei!" Teddie replied as he grabbed the two unconscious boys before sniffing the air. "Wah! Watch out, it's going to attack!"

"Huh?" Yu said before seeing Shadow Yosuke/Junpei charging up its attack. "Dammit! Izanagi!"

"Orpheus!" Minato shouted out as both he and Yu summoned their Personas, but were too late as Shadow Yosuke/Junpei unleashed its attack.

" _ **Take this! WINDS OF OBLIVION!**_ " It shouted out as it a powerful gust wind burst forth from it. Minato was blown away by the attack and his back hit one of the steel beams in the arena. Minato groaned in pain as he got up. His Persona was fine, relatively speaking. Yu, however, wasn't looking to well. He was clutching onto his arm, with Izanagi looking like it would fade into static at any minute. Minato picked himself up before picking up Yu and treating him with some Medicine. " _ **How long can you survive this?**_ "

"This isn't looking good…" Yu growled, wiping the blood off his chin.

"This one's much tougher than the last type! Be careful! Whenever you feel threatened, just defend yourself!" Teddie called out from behind a pillar before taking a sniff. "You're weak to Wind, Yu-sensei! You won't last long against it unless you do something about it! But I think…" Teddie then took another sniff. "Yes! IT'S WEAK TO ELECTRICITY!" Yu and Minato smirked at this.

"Light 'em up, Narukami!" Minato called out as Yu stood up.

"Izanagi! Zio!" Yu shouted out. The now normal-looking Izanagi nodded and quickly summoned some lightning upon the monstrosity, causing it to yell out in pain.

"Let's see if you can handle this!" Minato said before pointing at Shadow Yosuke/Junpei. "Agi!" Orpheus quickly fired and hit the Shadow, only for it to shrug off the attack. "Right! Junpei's Persona resists Fire." Minato cursed to himself for his own forgetfulness as Shadow Junpei/Yosuke got back up.

" _ **You'll pay for this!**_ " Shadow Yosuke/Junpei roared out. " _ **LIGHTNING OF EXTINCTION!**_ "

"Oh sh-" Minato didn't get to complete that sentence as he felt the equivalent of a Ziodyne applied violently to his face so fast that Yu couldn't react in time. "ARGH!" He yelled in pain before collapsing to the ground, barely conscious.

" _ **Heh… that's it?**_ " Shadow Yosuke/Junpei taunted. " _ **Boring…**_ "

"We… can't keep this up…" Minato groaned as he slowly stood up, barely standing on his two feet. He was almost completely drained, but he knew that running away wasn't an option. He quickly took out some Medicine and started repairing his wounds. "Yu! Hit its weakness again!" Yu nodded and quickly knocked it down.

"It's down!" Yu called out. "You think we can go all out!?"

"It's now or never!" Minato shouted out. "TAKE IT DOWN!"

"Let's end this…" Yu muttered before they both charged at the Shadow. They both let out primal war cries as they commanded their Personas to attack as well, only for Shadow Junpei/Yosuke to grab both of their Personas. Yu and Minato stopped in their tracks, feeling the Shadow squeeze on their Personas' bodies. They both yelled out in extreme pain, but managed to return their Personas back to the Sea of Their Souls to prevent more damage. They collapsed to their knees but they still got up.

" _ **Still alive, I see. Well then, how well can you handle this!**_ " Shadow Yosuke/Junpei said as it started charging up its next attack.

"Not happening! Persona!" Yu yelled out, summoning Izanagi once more to cast more lightning upon it, before Yu quickly sent him back when the Shadow tried to punch it.

" _ **OUT OF MY WAY**_!" Shadow Junpei/Yosuke yelled out before unleashing another Wind of Oblivion. Minato and Yu quickly held their ground and shielded themselves from the mighty gust of air, only pushing them back slightly. Yu stopped blocking, only to get grabbed by the Shadow. " _ **GOT YOU!**_ "

"Damn it!" Yu shouted out before summoning his card. He was about to summon Izanagi but Shadow Yosuke/Junpei's grip tightened around him, causing him clench his hand before the card was even near it. "AAAAHHHH!"

"Narukami!" Minato shouted out before being grabbed as well. He tried to struggle out of the Shadow's grip but only managed to get his arm out. He tried to reach for Yu, who was yelling out in immense pain while still trying summon Izanagi if the card in front of him was any indication, but accidentally summoned his new Evoker into his hand. "Huh?" He said as he stared at his new Evoker but quickly shook his head and placed the glowing blue gun against his head. But…

Something was preventing him from pulling the trigger.

He was completely out of energy. Yu was completely out of energy. If he were to summon Orpheus, he would only be hurting himself.

There was little to no chance they could get out of this alive.

Suddenly, he remembered Igor's words from this morning.

" _We will meet again, and when you do, you will not be alone. But remember, your bonds will play a much more important role than your previous journey_."

'There's something important there… c'mon! Think!' Minato thought as he looked at his Evoker before looking at Yu's card.

Suddenly, it clicked.

"Yu! Do you trust me!?" Minato called out. Yu winced and looked at Minato before looking at his card. He didn't know what he was planning, nor did he know if he should.

But right now. It didn't matter. Yu looked into Minato's eyes and saw they needed 100% complete trust in each other for Minato's plan to work.

"…I do!" Yu called back. "DO IT!"

" _ **SAY GOOD-BYE!**_ " Shadow Yosuke/Junpei yelled out as it pulled its arms back, ready to crush the two between its hands. For Minato and Yu, time slowed down to a crawl. As they were approaching each other at high speed, Minato cocked his handgun, took aim and fired.

Right into Yu's Tarot Card.

"PERSONA!" Minato and Yu shouted out before being blinded.

Teddie poked his head out when he didn't hear any squishing noises nor the sounds of bone crunching. Teddie made sure to close one of his eyes, only to gasp at the sight presented to him.

The torso, left arm and right leg of Orpheus.

The trench coat, the right arm and left leg of Izanagi.

Orpheus' harp and Izanagi's naginata on its back.

And Orpheus' and Izanagi's heads split down the middle.

And right now, he was holding Shadow Yosuke/Junpei's arms apart.

"S-Sensei…" Teddie said in awe at the new Persona.

"Izanagi…Orpheus." Yu and Minato said in unison.

(Cue Reach Out For The Truth -First Battle-)

" _ **Wh-What the Hell is this shit!?**_ " Shadow Junpei/Yosuke exclaimed. Minato and Yu only smirked at that, now feeling ready to take it on.

"Megidola." They both said. Their combined… their Synchronized Persona only nodded before summoning a large ball of element-less energy above the Shadow.

" _ **OH SHIT!**_ " The Shadow yelled as it dropped the two boys. Their Persona caught them and put them feet first on the ground as the Almighty attack hit the Shadow, causing a heavy amount of damage to be inflicted upon it.

They felt… good.

Their thoughts. Their breathing. Their heartbeats. Their very souls. Completely in synch with each other.

" _ **You two are getting to be a real pain…**_ " It growled. " _ **Alright, I'm gonna crush you with everything I got!**_ " Both Yu and Minato stayed silent, feeling their combined power flow through them. It only seemed to anger the Shadow. " _ **GO AWAY!**_ " It yelled out as it created another Wind of Oblivion. In perfect unison, Minato and Yu blocked the attack without moving an inch.

"Zionga." Yu and Minato said. Suddenly, a large bolt of lightning was cast upon the Shadow, damaging it even more.

" _ **NO!**_ " It yelled before charging at the two.

"Stop it." Yu and Minato simply said. Suddenly, their Synchronized Persona appeared in front of Shadow Yosuke/Junpei and grabbed it by the neck.

" _ **LET GO OF ME, ASSHOLE!**_ " The Shadow demanded.

"Okay." Minato and Yu said before pointing down to the ground. Suddenly, the Shadow was slammed straight into the ground. By now, it was almost ready to kneel over.

But, they had one more thing they wanted to try.

"Truth." Yu started.

"Or Death?" Minato finished. The Persona quickly formed and symbol in front of them, resembling a roulette wheel. One half was yellow, the other half was blue with a red triangle at the bottom. It then spun around before the red triangle pointed at a colour.

It was blue.

"Death." Yu and Minato declared. The Persona flew up into the air and created a ball of energy and size of the moon in an instant. The Shadow screamed, staring up at its impending doom.

" _ **Wa-Wait! NOOOO!**_ " It cried out.

"Izanagi-Orpheus!" Minato and Yu called out, raising their hands into the air. "Finish it. PERSONA!"

And with that, the battle ended.

(End Music)

Minato and Yu looked at Izanagi-Orpheus, before they separated back into Orpheus and Izanagi, then disappearing. "Think we went a little too overboard?" Yu asked.

"Maybe." Minato replied, disregarding the fact that the arena was just a really big crater in the ground now. As Konishi Liquors started to reform, Yosuke started to awaken. Yu and Minato kneeled to the ground, too tired to stand up. "We are _not_ going to do that again…"

"At least for emergencies." Yu suggested as he managed to pick himself up and went up to Yosuke and Junpei. Yosuke was just getting up while Junpei was still unconscious. "Yosuke, how are you feeling?"

"I… I…" Yosuke managed to get out. The whole experience was just… well, he couldn't describe it. Actually, he could barely remember it.

"Yosuke, are you okay!?" Teddie cried out.

"Y-Yeah..." Yosuke muttered as he shook the cobwebs from his head before seeing Junpei's state. "What happened? What happened to Junpei?"

"Guys…" Minato called out. The others looked where Minato was and saw Shadow Yosuke standing there with a blank look on his face, occasionally flickering out into Shadow Junpei before switching back. The black and purple miasma was now light blue and black.

"You... You're... not me..." Yosuke said weakly. "You're not any of us…"

"That thing came from you, Yosuke. It may be Junpei's Shadow too, but it was originally _your_ Shadow." Teddie told Yosuke. "You have to admit it, or it'll go berserk again..." Yosuke made a face of reluctance, but then felt a hand on both his shoulders. He looked and saw it was Yu and Minato.

"Everyone has a darker side to themselves." Minato said.

"You just have to be brave." Yu said in a friendly tone. Yosuke still looked hesitant, but quickly shook his head.

He knew what he had to do.

"A dark side… brave…" Yosuke sighed. "Dammit, it hurts to face yourself…" He said as he walked up to his Shadow. "I knew it wasn't lying… but I was so ashamed that I didn't want to admit it. You're me... and I'm you. When you get down to it, all of this is me." Shadow Yosuke/Junpei smiled before glowing blue.

"Huh…?" Junpei groaned as he got up, finally awakening. He joined the group just in time to see the Shadow transform.

The arms of Hermes. The torso and legs of Jiraiya. Hermes' torso becoming a jacket for Jiraiya. And golden wings on the side of Jiraiya's head, the back of his legs, arms and back.

"Jiraiya-Hermes…" Yosuke and Junpei muttered to themselves before the Persona separated into just Jiraiya and Hermes before turning into a Magician Tarot Card and a glowing blue gun respectively, landing in the hands of their wielders.

"This is my Persona…" Yosuke muttered to himself as a warm feeling went around his body. He felt… complete now.

"Good to have you back Hermes." Junpei said with smirk before turning to Minato. "Um… about that thing… my-well, me and Yosuke's Shadow I guess. Er… I was-"

"I don't care." Minato said off-handedly before smiling at him and hugging him. "I'm just glad you're fine."

"Thanks." Junpei said before they let go before heading towards Yu, Yosuke and Teddie.

"When we heard Senpai's voice…" Yosuke said quietly, too tired to stand up and opting for crouching on the ground. "I wonder if that was something Senpai had been keeping deep down inside." He then chuckled to himself. "'He was a real pain in the ass,' huh? What a way to find out. Geez, this is so embarrassing..."

"Well, on the bright side…" Junpei started before he started actually thinking about it. "Um… yeah, I don't think there is a bright side here but at least we're alive. Plus, we have Personas now!"

"And it looks like you two can do the same thing Yu-sensei and Minato-sensei did." Teddie added in.

"Wait, what did they do?" Yosuke asked before shaking his head and turning his head to Minato and Yu. "Actually, we can find out later. If you guys weren't here, I don't know what woulda happened... Thanks, Yu, Minato." Junpei then realized something.

"Hey, if our Shadow attacked us, did it happen to Saki Konishi as well?" Junpei asked.

"I've been wondering that too…" Yosuke muttered.

"I think so. The Shadows here were originally born from humans. Sometimes the fog clears. Then they all go berserk... and you saw what happens next. A strong-willed Shadow draws others to it. And the big mass of Shadows kills the host." Teddie explained in a somewhat grim tone.

"So that's why people die when it gets foggy in our world..." Yosuke said.

"And that would explain how the cause of death couldn't be determined for the announcer and Konishi." Yu realized.

"The murderer throws them into the TV, they get killed by their Shadow, and then the murderer goes into the TV and hangs 'em up on something like telephone poles or antennas." Junpei summarized. "And since they didn't necessarily kill them, the murderer wouldn't leave behind any evidence."

"Maybe DNA or fingerprints on their clothes but I highly doubt it…" Minato guessed. "But otherwise, it's the perfect crime. I mean, who would use a TV as a murder weapon?"

"Other than bash their heads in, no one." Yosuke said before he and Junpei groaned. They were really tired now.

"Junpei and Yosuke's pretty worn out..." Teddie said. "This world isn't made for humans. It's not comfortable for you here. I don't hear any more voices. I think we're done with this place. Let's go back."

"I think we had enough of this place for a lifetime." Minato said before he helped Yosuke up. And with that, they all headed back to the entrance, not realizing a giant blob of static was observing them this entire time.

Save Game… Quit!

Whew! Done! By the way, if you're wondering why Junpei has a Shadow now despite me saying all the Social Links were done: The time SEES came from was before they unlocked their Ultimate Personas, so it doesn't mean they've found their resolve. Plus, they never _earned_ their Personas. They were just given a gun and shot themselves to force them out. At least to my knowledge.

Oh, and I did this because boredom.

 **(Persona Analysis)**

 **Izanagi-Orpheus, The God of Fools  
Arcana: **World  
 **Stat Spread:** All-Rounder  
 **Resists:** Physical, Electricity & Fire  
 **Weak** : Wind  
 **Null:** Dark & Light  
 **Skills & Spells: **Megidola, Agilao, Zionga, Bufula, Garula, Aeon Rain, Tarunda, Tarukaja, Victory Cry  
 **Fusion Spell:** Truth or Death-Either all allies gain a massive boost to all stats and immunity to Instant Kills for 10 turns, or deal _brutally lethal_ Almighty damage to all foes. After 3 turns, the user loses 100% SP and will be reduced to 1 HP. Restorative skills and items used on the user will have a 75% penalty until the end of the day.

 **Hermes-** **Jiraiya** _ **,**_ **The Gallant Messenger Ninja of the Gods  
Arcana: **Magician  
 **Stat Spread:** Focused on Strength and Agility, but lacking in Luck  
 **Resists:** Fire  
 **Weak:** Ice & Electricity  
 **Null:** Wind & Dark  
 **Skills & Spells: **Garula, Agilao, Sonic Punch, Blade of Fury, Diarama, Masukukaja, Counterstrike  
 **Fusion Spell:** One to Infinity-Deal heavy Fire, Wind and Physical damage to all foes. 30% chance of inflicting Confusion, Fear or Dizziness. Max HP and SP are reduced by 5% after each use until the end of the day.

UknownHero signing off, my friends! And Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!


	5. Chapter 5: The Binds That Tie Us

Hey, UknownHero here and welcome to another chapter of Time To Make History! Not much to say except thanks for all the support so far. Been a bit stressed out lately but writing stuff like this helps get my mind off of everything. Anyway, let's go do this thing!

Load Game… Start!

Chapter 5: Binds That Tie Us

 **-Midnight Channel-**

(Afterschool 4/15)

It was a long walk back to the Studio Backlot. No one wanted to talk, as they were either reeling from the power they now have or were just a bit too tired to start a conversation. Minato was studying his new Evoker all the while. It didn't seem… natural. It didn't feel like anything he has ever held before so there was no real description he could come up with. Still, it did its job of summoning his Persona. Mitsuru would definitely be interested in this.

'Oh crap… the others…' Minato thought. It was going to a long night of explanation, especially when there were two new Persona-users among them. Then he frowned. "Hey… can I ask you guys something?" Minato spoke up.

"Hm? What is it?" Yu said.

"Have you guys ever… experienced something strange at midnight?" Minato said, needing to know something.

"Er…" Yosuke mumbled to himself. "…No, not really."

"Can't really say that I have." Yu answered. "Why are you asking us this? Is it about the Midnight Channel?"

"No." Minato replied with a frown on his face.

"Wait, hold up." Junpei said, causing everyone to stop. "You guys can summon Personas right?" The two boys just nodded with a slight shrug. "And yet, you guys never experienced the Dark Hour? Ever?"

"What's the Dark Hour?" Yosuke had to ask. "You guys keep talking about things you never seem to explain."

"We'll tell you guys later. It isn't important right now." Minato spoke out, but still had a frown on his face. This was going against what he was thinking. If Yu and Yosuke have the potential, why haven't they experienced the Dark Hour before? And what was with their difference in their summoning medium? And what exactly is this world in the TV and how did it connect to the power of Persona?

He shook his head. 'Not right now. Need. Sleep. School. Damn it.' He thought as they all continued walking back to the entrance to the Midnight Channel. After what felt like hours of walking, they finally made it back to the Studio Backlot.

"Well, home sweet home, I guess…" Junpei muttered as he looked around. He actually missed this place.

And to be honest, he would rather be anywhere but a liquor store right now. He swore if he saw any bottle of alcohol it would be too soon. He was sure Yosuke shared his feelings.

"Yeah, but there's one thing that's been bothering me…" Yosuke admitted before turning to Teddie. "Hey, Teddie. You said that place is reality for the people who enter, right?" Teddie nodded at this. "So that shopping district, and the weird room we saw before... Did they exist because the ones who died entered this world, and it became their reality? I guess what I'm trying to ask is: Did those places form because of the people who entered this world?"

"I don't know." Teddie answered as he shrugged. "It's never happened before. But that's probably where they were when the Shadows attacked them."

"It would also make sense. It would basically be their little personal section of Hell." Minato spoke up. "I mean… the ripped posters and the voices back there..." Yosuke winced at Minato's mention of the angry voices, which lead to memories of their encounter with his and Junpei's Shadow. Junpei couldn't help but also wince. "It could've been what Saki made up in her mind. Maybe her father didn't yell at her, but it was what Saki thought he would say. And the constant presence of that enka singer probably would've drove the announcer crazy. Either way, it brought out the worst out of them and empowered their Shadow."

"Which led in their Shadow going berserk and attacking them…" Junpei added in with a sad sigh.

"And then the killer goes in and hangs up their corpses…" Yosuke finished with a slight crack in his voice. Junpei patted his back in comfort. He guessed he was still getting over Saki's death even after everything was revealed.

"Did this world actively try, and succeed, in killing them?" Yu muttered.

"The fog does lift here sometimes." Teddie informed the group of Persona-users. "The Shadows get really violent then. I always get so scared. I have to hide when it happens! I sensed people here twice before. But both of them disappeared after the fog lifted..."

"So let's set the scene." Minato said. "Saki and Yamano were thrown in here for whatever reason. And since they couldn't get out, they wandered around this world."

"After a while, their Shadow came out of them." Yosuke continued. "The fog cleared, it went berserk, and it ended up killing them... does that sound right?"

"So far…" Junpei said before realizing something. "So wait, if me, Yosuke or both of us were here when the fogs lifts..."

"You guys would've been in deep trouble…" Yu grimly finished.

"Knew this was bad idea to begin with." Minato said. "If we didn't unlock our Personas then, we wouldn't be here talking about this."

"You guys were lucky. Yu-sensei, Minato-sensei and me were here with you guys the whole time..." The bear mascot said.

"Shit…" Junpei swore as he tipped his hat down in shame. "I know with Shadows we could be killed any second… but with _our_ Shadow, we would've definitely…"

"Dammit!" Yosuke swore as he kicked an invisible rock in frustration, angry that they were helpless while he had backup. "Senpai and that announcer... they were stuck here all alone. No one could save them!" Junpei was also pretty frustrated too while Minato and Yu just looked down sadly.

"There was nothing we could do even if we did know about this world back then." Minato said. "There's no changing the past."

"But at least we know how they died." Yu pointed out. "But we still need a motive and _who_ the killer is before someone else gets thrown in here."

"Yeah!" Teddie called out, now attempting to brighten everyone's spirits. "They disappeared when the fog lifted. But they were safe before that. No Shadows attacked them. They attacked us, though..."

"That's probably because we can wield Persona." Yu quickly explained. "Or they really hate investigators." He joked before pausing his chuckle. "Huh. I suddenly realize how much of a hypocrite I am. I am actually playing detective."

"I think we're all playing detective." Minato pointed out.

"Except we're actually trying to solve something!" Junpei said. "An actual murder case that no one but us can solve."

"Yeah…" Yosuke said, the full weight of the situation finally hitting him, leaving him sort of shocked and excited before slapping his cheeks. "But remember, we're not doing this for thrills or being called heroes." Yosuke said while wincing at the memory of his and Junpei's Shadow. "We're doing this because no one else can."

"Yep! It'll be dangerous, but we might be able to fight them! We might save people!" Teddie declared proudly. Looks like his attempt at firing everyone up was working.

"Alright, let's wind it back." Yu said as he chuckled. "Teddie, you were saying something about saving people?"

"Oh yeah." Yosuke said as the conversation got back on track. "Hey, wait a minute. Are you saying, if anyone else gets thrown in here, we can save them before they disappear!? Like how you guys just saved me and Junpei!?"

"It's not like we can let them die." Minato said with a determined look on his face.

"And we won't know unless we try." Yu said with a smirk.

"Anyways, we need to catch the one who's throwing people in here and make him stop." Yosuke said before smiling. "Yeah... I'm finally starting to understand what's going on."

"It feels good to get back in the game." Junpei said with a grin. "Going to school. Hanging out with friends. Fighting Shadows. Heh, even two years later we're still doing the same stuff."

"Technically, we were out of the game for two weeks." Minato deadpanned. "But you're right." 'I swear to God if I have to start my Social Links again…' Minato thought. If he had to create a second harem…

"U-Um... can I ask something too?" Teddie spoke up meekly. "If Shadows are born from humans, what was Teddie born from?"

"You don't even know where you came from!?" Yosuke exclaimed. "How should we know?"

"I know some things. Mostly about this world..." Teddie explained. "But I don't know anything about myself. To be honest, I never thought about it until now..."

"Guess that explains why he doesn't know about filming and why he never really gave us straight answers." Junpei muttered. "He's most likely not human, that's for sure."

"I think we figured that out when we saw he had nothing inside. Not even fluff." Minato said with a sigh. "So we can rule out sentient over-sized teddy bear."

"Will you guys... come back here?" Teddie begged, his eyes slightly watering. Again, this caused the others to question who Teddie really is considering he looked like he was about to cry. Yu just chuckled at Teddie's face. "What's so funny?"

"Of course we will." Yu replied.

"We made a promise after all." Minato added in, chuckling along with Yu.

"You guys... will keep your word?" Teddie said, surprised.

"Plus, we kinda need you…" Junpei admitted before mentally adding. 'And Fuuka's can't summon her Persona yet.'

"Yeah, you're the one who said you weren't letting us out unless we do." Yosuke said.

"Oh! Th-That's right!" Teddie said, looking sad for a second before smiling. "Okay, I'll let you out. But there's one thing. I'll be waiting for you guys here. You need to come in from the same place every time. So we can meet up."

"You mean the TV at Junes?" Minato guessed. Teddie looked confused for a second, wondering what this 'Junes' was but nodded all the same.

"You could come in from somewhere else. But then you won't end up here. You might show up somewhere I couldn't get to you. Then you'd be doooomed... Got it!?" Teddie explained. Everyone nodded, not faulting the bear's logic.

"Well, pretty much everyone's in agreement..." Yosuke said. "Alright, can you show us the way out?"

"Roger that!" Teddie said as he saluted. "One exit coming right up!" As quick as he said that sentence, a stack of three retro TVs appeared.

"Why can't it be a door or an elevator…" Junpei groaned.

"Let's just be glad it isn't a toilet." Yosuke said, sighing in defeat seeing that there was no other form of exit for them. "Anyway, first we need to make sure there aren't any employees milling around out there…"

"Okay! Go go go! Squiiiish!" Teddie called out as he pushed the boys through the TV.

"Why are you touching there!? Hey? TEDDIE!" Junpei yelled out in panic.

"Argh! Hey! Stop squeezing, you little—Whoa!" Yosuke exclaimed.

"I just really hope the girls aren't too angry…" Yu muttered casually.

"Oh right. They're on the other side." Minato said, now just remembering the girls were waiting on the other side.

Very volatile girls waiting for them.

For possibly hours.

With no way telling them they were even alive.

"Oh shit…" The boys swore before they were shoved through to the Real World. Teddie just brushed the dust off his paws for a job well done before turning around, deciding the make glasses in his spare time.

He stopped and froze in fear when he saw a blob of static in front of him. Smiling. Creepily. Somehow.

If Teddie had waste of any kind, his suit would've been ruined by now.

"SENSEI!"

 **(Real World)**

"Oh shit!" Yosuke swore as they all collapsed into a heap in front of Chie and Yukari. Minato and Junpei quickly checked for their Evoker, only to see that it was missing, causing them to groan. Yu, Junpei, Minato and Yosuke got off of each other and brushed off any dust that may have gotten on their uniforms.

"Ah…!" Chie called out.

"Y-You…" Yukari stuttered out. They both looked like they were about to cry.

"Oh, um, sor-" Junpei started to explain only to be interrupted by the girls.

"Y-You guys came baaack...!" Chie cried out, tears falling freely down her cheeks.

"MINATO! JUNPEI!" Yukari exclaimed as she tackled them down, soaking Minato's left shoulder. "You're alive! You're alive…!"

"Huh? Chie? Io? Whoa, what's with those face? Why are you all crying!?" Yosuke said, confused by the situation. Yu decided to take a few steps away from the Unlucky Magician.

 **WHAM!**

"Whee…!" Yosuke squeaked out, getting punched in the nads by Yukari before Chie threw his lifeline at him, knocking him backwards.

"Oh dude!" Junpei said, laughing at his fellow Magician's pain, before Chie kicked him in his nads and Yukari smashed her toy bow (that was made of _really_ cheap plastic unlike the one Minato bought her back in Gekkoukan that was actually viable in combat) over his head. "Why Yuk-urp!" He was then kicked in the stomach by Yukari for not using her alias. "Why Io-tan…"

"I don't know!" Yukari cried out, still sobbing before hugging Minato again.

"The nerve of you guys! You are such morons! I can't believe this! You guys suck!" Chie yelled out.

"I mean, _seriously_ , that had to be the more boneheaded thing any of you could do! Going into some other world with no definite exit! And the stupid fog! AND THE STUPID HEADACHE IT GAVE ALL OF US!" Yukari joined in yelling at the boys too. After she got off Minato, however.

"I mean, the rope got cut off—I had no idea what to do... I was so worried..." Chie then sobbed out as Junpei and Minato stood up.

"We thought you all died…" Yukari sniffled out, cleaning her face with her sleeves. "I thought we'd never see you again…"

"I mean, I was… we were…" Chie and Yukari were trying to find the right words to finish off their rant.

"Scared stiff, dammit!" Chie finally yelled out. "I hate all of you!" Chie cried out before running away.

"I'm glad you guys are alright…" Yukari said in a calm voice, before pulling their collars down, bringing their faces to her level. "Now let's go home so I can _kill you two_!" She then shoved them away and stomped out of the electronics department.

"Hell hath no fury for a woman scorned…" Yu muttered as they watched the girls leave the store. "Well, two women in this case…"

"I-I think that mighta… kinda… sorta… been our fault." Yosuke said. "Maybe we did go a little too far..."

"'Our'?" Yu deadpanned.

"'We'?" Minato said in the same tone.

"Alright, just me and Junpei!" Yosuke groaned before sighing. "…So, I'm guessing one of you is going to stay at my house for a while…"

"Dibs on Yosuke's." Junpei said automatically.

"Yu, do you mind if I stay with you for a year?" Minato asked at the same time.

"Yes." Yu and Yosuke replied in unison as they fist-bumped their guests.

"Let's all apologize to them tomorrow, though." Minato said. "We all made them worry."

"Yeah, I'm completely wiped out. I'm gonna go home, soak in the shower for a while, and get some sleep." Yosuke said before smiling softly and patting his chest, feeling his Persona within him. "I think... I'm gonna sleep well tonight."

"Yeah. Me too." Junpei admitted a small smile as well. "I feel like… back there… I needed that. We both needed that. It's actually pretty nice now."

"It should be." Yu said. "I'm guessing you need your things from the Amagi Inn?"

"We'll swing by there after school and tell the others." Minato said, thankful they would take them in. "We should probably give some of our food money to the others since they need it more than us." Junpei nodded in agreement.

"Well, I guess we're gonna be really busy soon." Yosuke said before chuckling. "Hehe. Well, see you in the morning then!" Yu and Minato nodded in unison as the Magicians left.

"Let's head to my place then." Yu said before stretching and yawning. "That fight was brutal…"

"Well, summoning Persona does take a toll on you at first. You'll get used to it soon enough." Minato said as they started to walk to Yu's home, making small talk along the way.

(Samegawa Floodplain)

"You realize we have to be paranoid with the weather now, right?" Minato stated, listening to the rain. "With the Midnight Channel and people dying once it's foggy here…"

"Yeah. We have to watch the forecast like a hawk." Yu said before sighing. "Still, never expected my year here to turn out like this." Minato was going to continue, but then noticed Yukiko in a kimono sitting at a bench under cover.

"Huh? Yukiko?" Minato asked as they walked up to the girl.

"Oh. Orpheus-san. Yu-san." Yukiko said as they sat on either side of her. She blushed as she remembered how she was dressed. "Oh… are you surprised to see me dressed this way? My parents sent me on an errand…"

"You look really good in it." Yu complimented, causing Yukiko to blush. Minato then remembered something.

"Hey, you weren't at school after lunch." Minato spoke up. "Where were you? Chie was worried, you know?" Yukiko's expression changed from smiling to grimacing in an instant.

"The inn was much busier than I realized." Yukiko replied. But, Minato and Yu felt that she was leaving something out. "Um... Are you two getting used to your new town and school?" Yukiko asked, trying to change the subject.

"Yeah. Still getting used to the environment though." Minato answered.

"Somewhat." Yu replied. "But the people here are much friendlier compared to the city."

"...I'm glad to hear that. It must be difficult, moving to a place you know nothing about." Yukiko said.

"You'd be surprised how you get used to it…" Minato said with a sigh, causing Yukiko to wince as she remembered Orpheus and his friend's origins.

"Can't agree with you more." Yu admitted. "I'm not moving every year, but it's common enough to be tiresome."

"Sorry." Yukiko apologized. "I've never been out of Inaba, so I wouldn't know what it's like to transfer to a new school." Yukiko said. She decided to change the subject again. "Oh! Are you guys getting along with Chie? I mean, I always leave early, so... umm..." Minato and Yu suddenly flashbacked to Chie yelling at them. Their friendship was probably on the rocks right now.

"I don't know." Yu said with a shrug.

"She's interesting to say the least." Minato muttered.

"I see..." Yukiko said as she looked down at her hands in thought. "Chie's very supportive, you know. It's always her who gives me the little extra push I need. We had homeroom together last year too, and I still remember how we'd cut class sometimes." Yukiko giggled at the fond memories of their first year in high school, before realizing she still needed to do something. "Oh... I should get going. I need to make tomorrow's arrangements with our head chef. Our inn can't function without me right now. Um... I'll see you at the inn, Orpheus-san?"

"Actually, I'm gonna sleep over at Yu's place. Hermes is going to Yosuke's." Minato said. "Do you mind telling the others that?"

"Okay." Yukiko said, before the mention of Yosuke made her remember something. "Oh! Yosuke! Can you tell him that I'm sorry for his loss? Palladion-san was looking for him earlier…"

'Seems like Yukiko knew about his crush…' Yu thought.

"We'll tell him." Minato replied. "But… I think he's gonna be alright. You shouldn't worry about him, he's a lot stronger than you might think." 'Especially with a Persona.' Minato mentally added.

"Thank you." Yukiko said before she got up, got out her umbrella and left.

(Evening)

(Dojima Residence)

"Nanako, I'm back!" Yu called out as he and Minato took off their shoes.

"Hm? Who's Nanako?" Minato asked.

"Welcome ba-" A little girl, probably around 6, started before seeing Minato here. She quickly hid behind Yu.

"Hey, don't be scared." Yu quickly said in a comforting tone. "He's a friend that'll be staying here for a while."

"…Does dad know?" Nanako mumbled out.

"I'm gonna tell him right now. He's home, right?" Yu said. Nanako only shook her head. "Then I'll call him to tell he's gonna have another guest here. You know his phone number?" Nanako nodded and quickly got him a piece of paper for her father's cellphone. "Thanks. It's gonna take a minute." After Yu went to talk to Dojima over the phone, Nanako and Minato went over to the table, sat down and just looked at each other.

"Hi." Minato said, giving her a friendly smile. "I'm Orpheus."

"H-Hi…" Nanako stuttered out. Though she wasn't scared of him, she wasn't as friendly as him either. "Y-You have a weird name…" Minato just chuckled at that.

"It is kinda funny, huh?" Minato said. "Your father's the detective, right?"

"Y-Yes… he isn't home a lot though…" Nanako said, looking a bit sad. Minato suddenly noticed that though there were photos of Nanako and Detective Dojima around, he didn't find any photos of Mrs. Dojima. Minato was about to ask about the lack of photos before stopping himself.

No. He knew it was probably going to be a touchy subject if he brought it up.

"Just talked to Uncle." Yu said as he sat down. "Said it would be fine, considering things. He said Orpheus could have his dinner tonight." Minato found it strange for the detective to easily let, what essentially is, a stranger into his home but decided not to dwell on it.

"He's going to be late again, huh…" Nanako said sadly. Minato just grimaced. He recognized the expression on Nanako's face, having seen it way too many times on his own.

Painful loneliness.

"Unfortunately." Yu replied, sympathizing with the little girl.

"Well, there's no helping it…" Minato muttered. "But don't let that get you down. You have me and Yu to hang out with you."

"Really?" Nanako said before checking the time. "I'll heat dinner."

(A few minutes later…)

After eating dinner, they settled down with some drinks and watched TV. Wanting to see if the police found out anything they didn't know yet, Yu switched the channel to the news.

"Our next story is an update in our ongoing report on the bizarre murders occurring in Inaba. At around 7:00 A.M., local high school student Saki Konishi was found dead in Inaba's residential area. Since the body was positioned similarly to the last victim, and since Ms. Konishi was the one who discovered that body, police are proceeding under the assumption that this may be a serial murder case related to the death of Mayumi Yamano. The coroner's report has established Ms. Konishi's time of death at around 1:00 A.M. last night. The body went unnoticed until this morning as a result of the heavy fog blanketing the area." The news reader said.

"Nothing we don't know already…" Minato mumbled quietly. "But damn…"

"Another incident... Dad won't be coming home tonight." Nanako said sadly. Minato was having a feeling her father not coming home was much more common than he was thinking.

"Don't worry. We'll be here with you." Yu spoke up, trying to comfort Nanako.

"...I'll be okay. Can you help me do some stuff around the house?" Nanako asked. Minato was quickly realizing how reliable Nanako is despite her age.

"I'll do it. I'd feel like a freeloader if I don't." Minato replied.

"Hey, we're all here together. I'm helping too." Yu said. Nanako smiled a little at that. They went back to watching after that.

"...Amagi Inn, located upstream of Samegawa River, is the town's oldest historical landmark. Vacationers are known to travel surprising distances in order to visit its open-air, radium-rich hot springs." The news reader started.

"Why they doing a report about the Amagi Inn? Especially now?" Yu muttered. He found this a bit strange.

"After the incident with Ms. Yamano, the manager has stepped aside, leaving her daughter Yukiko to fill her shoes." A reporter explained.

"Huh? Yukiko's mother?" Yu said before turning to Minato. "Do you know anything about this? You did live there."

"What?" Minato said, surprised. "No. Never heard a word about this. Must've been happening recently…" Suddenly, it clicked. "That would explain Yukiko leaving early. She was managing in the inn. But why did her mum step down while she was still in high school?"

"There has to be has to be more to this." Yu said as Yukiko, who was wearing the kimono they saw her in earlier, showed up on TV.

"In other words, she's a manager who's still in high school. Now that has a nice ring to it... Let's see if we can interview her. Excuse me!" The reporter called out.

"I don't like him…" Nanako commented.

"We don't like him either." Minato said. This reporter was way too energetic, annoying and did he know anything about personal space!?

"Hm…? Um… are you speaking to me?" Yukiko said. She just stepped outside and was called out without warning.

"We've heard that you're the new manager. Is it true you're still in high school?" The reporter asked.

"Oh, well, I'm only filling in temporarily..." Yukiko tried to explain.

"Someday, though..." The reporter said, somewhat lecherously. Minato and Yu quickly picked up subtle twitches and body language.

"Lay off her…" Yu growled quietly. "Don't you see she doesn't want you near her…"

"Still, I know Yukiko's mother isn't going to leave anytime soon because of the inn." Minato muttered. "But laying all her duties on her daughter is too strange to think she's taking a vacation…"

"That aside, wow! You're looking gorgeous in that kimono. You must have a lot of male visitors." The reporter said.

"My God I wanna punch him…" Minato whispered to himself.

"Huh? No, um..." Yukiko stuttered out, looking more upset as the reporter's rambling went on. That is, until…

" **GET AWAY FROM HER YOU A** —( _bleep_ ) **!** **DON'T YOU F—** ( _bleep_ ) **—ING IDIOTS HAVE OTHER S—** ( _bleep_ ) **TO DO! YOU C—** ( _bleep_ ) **BITING F—** ( _bleep_ ) **—TARDS!** " A very unexpected and familiar voice yelled out at the reporters to scare them off. A voice Minato recognized.

Minato was expecting Shinjiro, or Akihiko or even Yukari.

He did not expect the ticking time-bomb of emotion that was…

Fuuka Yamagishi.

'I guess all the annoying reporters, our situation and the murders must've got to her.' Minato guessed in his head as he stared at the screen as the news quickly cut back to the news reader, who decided to ignore that outburst and continue the news. 'Who knew she was bottling up this much stress. Or knew swear words. How the Hell did I not see this!?' Suddenly the Midnight Channel, the murders of two women, getting used to a new environment, his missing Personas and time traveling came to mind.

'Are all the girls we know here having their time of the month at the same time?' Yu thought.

'Yay!' Nanako thought, seeing a Junes ad pop up in the corner of the screen and was completely ignoring the R18+ language. 'Every day is great at your Junes~' That made Yu and Minato realize they should probably change the channel.

"Welp, this is boring!" Yu quickly said before fumbling with the remote and changing the channel.

"Oh, we need to do the dishes. Let's go, Nanako." Minato suggested as he helped Nanako up to her feet. Yu decided to sweep the house. Soon, they were done and everything was as neat and tidy it was ever going to be. It wasn't that late but they should probably start preparing for bed soon.

"It goes a lot faster when two people are doing the dishes." Nanako said with a cute smile as she sat down. "Oh, there's a spare pillow and blanket in dad's room. Since you're staying here, you can use them. We don't have a spare futon though. Yu is using it."

"Thanks, Nanako. Guess you have to take the love seat in my room then." Yu said. He then noticed that it was still raining.

"The Midnight Channel's going to air tonight." Minato said. "Let's get ready before midnight." Yu nodded and quickly went into Dojima's room to get Minato his pillow and blanket while Minato went upstairs to go to sleep and watch the Midnight Channel.

(Some time later…)

"I'm going down stairs." Minato said, wearing just a white t-shirt and shorts, which Yu provided. "We have to watch the Midnight Channel alone, right?"

"Yeah, but considering the myth of the Midnight Channel, we have to take the whole 'alone' part with a grain of salt." Yu pointed out as he turned off the light. "If we miss it and the alone part of the myth is true, we can always talk to Yosuke and Junpei about it. There's no way they won't watch it tonight."

 **(11:57)**

"But it's also likely they'll watch it together too." Minato also pointed out. "We can't take that chance."

 **(11:58)**

"Look, it's almost midnight." Yu said as he watched the weather channel.

"Ugh, we might wake up Nanako if we keep talking about this." Minato said as he stood in front of the TV.

"Okay." Yu replied as he stood in front of the TV as well.

"In other Inaba-related news, meteorologists are predicting heavy fog throughout the year." The weather announcer… announced.

"Which means more chances for the killer." Minato grumbled.

 **(11:59)**

"The region has seen an abnormal amount of fog over the past few years, and the cause of the climate change is unknown. Whatever the reason, residents of the Inaba area should be careful. Our broadcast tonight was extended to bring you up-to-date news on the incident in Inaba. The time is now midnight." As soon as she said that, Yu turned off the TV. After a few seconds, it happened.

 **(Midnight)**

Suddenly, sickly yellow static appeared on the inactive TV. "Looks like you were right…" Minato muttered.

"And it looks like we can see the Midnight Channel as much as we want as long as the conditions are met." Yu noted. They studied the screen until a silhouette appeared. It seemed to be a woman. It looked like she was wearing a kimono. The image is so out of focus that they couldn't tell who it was.

"Damn… looks like we're gonna have to get to work soon." Minato grumbled.

"I wonder if…" Yu mumbled as he held out his hand. Minato saw what he was doing and quickly held onto his other arm. Yu stuck his hand through the TV, to see if he could touch the person there and maybe even pull them out, but just caused the image on the TV to disappear. "Damn…"

"We need to talk about this with Junpei and Yosuke tomorrow." Minato said before yawning. "Let's go to sleep. Feels like I went through every floor of Tartarus…" Minato mumbled. Yu, knowing it was going to be a busy day tomorrow, decided to go to sleep as well.

(Velvet Room)

Minato felt like he was floating again. Just like the other night, he opened his eyes to see that he was back in the Velvet Room, wearing his Gekkoukan uniform. He looked around and saw Yu was there, wearing his Yasogami uniform and looked really confused. "I swear this was a limo when I was here last time…" Yu whispered out before seeing Minato was with him. Before he could ask questions, Igor started to speak.

"Welcome. Or should I say 'Welcome back'?" Igor said. "Do not be alarmed. You both are fast asleep in the real world... I have summoned you two within your dreams. I should mention it was much easier than I was anticipating, but with your special bond, it should be no surprise. And so, we all finally meet with each other."

"Hello Igor." Minato greeted.

"You know him?" Yu asked.

"Let's just say he's more than a guide." Minato replied before frowning. "But… wait, what was that about our 'special bond'?"

"We will go into detail later." Margret said. "I am sorry for not introducing myself earlier, but I will fill the role of Elizabeth. I am Margret."

"Nice to meet you." Minato said to the bartender as they shook hands, but noticed something… off about her. Like… she was bothered with his very presence."

"This is a space that only those who have, in one way or another, entered into a contract may enter. In this case, you two have entered into a joint contract, allowing both of you to enter the Velvet Room. In your daily life, you subconsciously heard the call to awaken, and you chose to follow the destiny of your inner voice... thereby enacting your glorious awakening to your power." Margret explained as contract appeared in front of them.

 _Minato Arisato and Yu Narukami_

"Hm? But… I don't remember signing a contract of any sort…" Yu said, a little confused before pausing as he remembered.

(Flashback!)

"Sign this petition and take responsibility for all your actions and get 10,000 yen!"

"Not interested…"

"Oh? How about enough paper to make 1000 origami cranes too!"

"Still not interested."

"And an action figure of the Red Neo Featherman from Neo Featherman R! It's super rare!"

"Nope."

"Then maybe me too! I will date you if you sign this petition!"

"Don't you have more self-respect than that? And aren't you a bit too young to even think about that?"

"And er… this… MP3 Player I totally didn't steal from someone's grave?"

"You got what _where_?"

"Ack! I mean… this… um… er… _special_ pair of Battle Pan-I mean… these Battle Applications for The Total Lingering Effects of Protection At No True Intention with Enhanced Speed?"

"Where do I sign?" Yu said before grabbing the clipboard off the blue-dressed girl's hands and signed his name, not noticing the one othername on the "petition". He didn't know what that was but it sounded cool.

(End Flashback!)

"I never did get that or that MP3…" Yu mumbled off to the side, not realizing he said all of that out loud and missing Minato, Margret and _Igor's_ sweatdrop. Still, Igor still had his signature creepy smile on his face. He still had to thank Lavenza for her service back then.

"Anyhow, hold onto these." Igor said as he summoned a pair of items important to Yu and Minato's journey.

"Velvet Keys…" Minato as both he and Yu grabbed one and placed it their pockets.

"From this night forth, you two are our guest in this Velvet Room. Your destinies will require you to hone your power, and for that, you will inevitably require our help. There is but one price for this assistance: You must abide by your contract and assume responsibility for all decisions you may make." Igor explained.

"Of course." Minato said. "I've been here before and from the looks of things we need all the help we can get."

"But… I don't get it…" Yu admitted.

"It is good, Minato Arisato. And do not worry Yu Narukami, it is fine for now." Igor said. "The Persona you have acquired—Izanagi, the God of Japan and Orpheus, the Master of Strings—it is a side of you that shows itself when you face the world around you. Perhaps you can think of it as... a facade of determination you wear to face various difficulties in life. Your Persona ability, however, is that of the Wild Card... compared to that of others, it is very special. It is like the number zero: empty, yet holding infinite potential within itself. And, with both of you here representing the Fool Arcana _and_ possessing the Wild Card, its true power can be unleashed."

"'Special'…?" Yu repeated.

"Unleashing the Wild Card's true power…?" Minato muttered to himself.

"The Persona ability is the power to control one's own heart, and the heart is strengthened through bonds. As you form bonds by becoming involved with others, your own Social Links will gradually develop. The power of these Social Links is what will determine your Persona's abilities." Igor continued.

"In layman terms, the mutual bonds you create will make you and your Personas stronger." Minato simplified. "And it can't be one-sided. You can't just view your Social Links as just a way of becoming stronger. You must understand your bonds, cherish them, protect them."

"Yes, Social Links are necessary for far more than strengthening your Persona. At times, they will help light the way to the truth you are searching for." Margret said. "Which lead us the 'special bond' we mentioned earlier."

"What is it?" Minato asked.

"You see… someone outside of the Velvet Room has place Minato and his friends in this… unfortunate situation." Igor replied. "Simply put, Minato and his allies are from 2009. They are not of this time."

The bus was completely silent after that.

"…Huh." Yu said, breaking the silence. "That's… huh."

"That's it?" Minato said plainly. "'Huh'?"

*cough* "World inside of TV!" *cough* Yu coughed out.

"Touché." Minato admitted before focusing back on Igor.

"As I was saying, Minato and his friends are not of this time. And this causes various… problems with them." Igor explained. "While time travel is acceptable for only one person and for no more than a year, you and your friends have travelled forward in time by two years. They are chronologically displaced and that is not acceptable. Time is an ever evolving and self repairing system. Should they stay here any longer, time will correct itself."

"But Fuuka said there's the Stable Time Loop theory. We have already affected the future no matter what." Minato pointed out.

"That is why you will all be erased from existence all together." Igor stated, causing Minato and Yu's eyes to widen. "You will not die. You will simply cease to exist all together. Nothing of your existence will be left."

"Wh-What!?" Minato exclaimed. "We'll… I won't exist!?"

"Then we have to send them back as soon as possible!" Yu said. "Igor, can you send them back?"

"Unfortunately, or fortunately however you view it, the person that sent you here has already thought of it. You see, you are all bound to certain souls, which keep you here in this time period." Igor said.

"Bound? Huh?" Yu said, both Fools looking confused.

"Allow me to explain, using you two as an example." Margret spoke up. "Minato, your soul is bound to Yu. As long as he draws breath, you are able to stay without your existence being threatened. However, if Minato dies, so does Yu, which also erases Minato from the timeline."

"Ah crap…" Minato groaned.

"That's not good." Yu muttered.

"However, there are benefits to having your souls bound to each other." Margret said. Minato and Yu frowned before remembering their battle with Shadow Yosuke/Junpei.

"Izanagi-Orpheus." The Fools said in unison.

"That is correct. With your bound souls, you are able to perform a unique type of Persona Fusion even I cannot perform, as it requires both Persona-users to completely trust one another in order to perform it." Igor said. "We shall call it 'Synchronization Fusion', where one taps into the power of one another to unleash much more power than they would individually."

"But do not rely on this however." Margret stated firmly. "The Power of Persona comes from one's _own_ heart. In RPG terms, you receive no experience points should you finish a battle while having your Synchronized Persona out."

"And since you are connecting your minds and souls together, you will feel the same pain as well." Igor said. "But even without having Synchronized your Personas, you will both draw from the same pool of energy. And, you are not immune to one another's feelings. Should one experience fear, the other will as well."

"So we have to be much more careful with ourselves as well as keeping each other safe…" Minato said. "Anything else we should know?"

"Well, with two Fools in the same place at the same time, your Initial Personas, while usually weak compared to those without the Fool Arcana, have been empowered as well." Igor said. "It is likely you will keep them along with the other Personas you will wield."

"Other Personas?" Yu asked.

"That's the Power of the Wild Card." Minato replied with a smirk. "The ability to wield multiple Personas. And I'm guessing me and Yu will share our pool of Personas, huh?"

"Yes. But, there are Personas exclusive to one of you." Margret said. "For example." She said as she took out an Empress Tarot Card and crushed it in her book, summoning a small version of the Persona of her choice. "This is one version of Cerberus." Minato's eyes widened as he saw the other version of Cerberus, which was much different from Koromaru's Cerberus. "As you can see, Minato, it is much different than your friend's Cerberus. His is that of the Strength Arcana but this one is of the Heirophant Arcana instead. Please remember Personas are merely a representation of a mindset, a mask you put on when experiencing hardship or around different people. There is no 'one true form' of a Persona after all." She then put away Cerberus seeing that she made her example clear. "But, like a mask, only one can be put on at a time."

"What about my Fusion Spells?" Minato inquired. "I summon two Personas at the same time whenever I do them."

"Yes, and it is an impressive feat, but I am afraid your ability to tap into this power has weakened severely." Igor said. "You can only perform a Fusion Spell with your Synchronized Persona. And even then it has much more dire consequences than straining your mind and body."

"This is a lot of information to take in…" Yu groaned, rubbing his temple.

"Yeah. And who exactly caused us to go back?" Minato asked.

"For that, I do not know, but Yu Narukami is correct. This is too much information for one night." Igor said. "Time still ticks forwards in the real world, after all. Where will your awakened power of the Wild Card take you...? I look forward to traveling the road of your destinies together." Igor then chuckled. "'Til we meet again... Minato Arisato and Yu Narukami." Minato and Yu nodded before losing consciousness.

It was going to be a very busy day tomorrow.

Save Game… Quit!

Whew! Done! Off to Beta and then upload! See ya soon!

UknownHero signing off, my friends!


	6. Chapter 6: Social & Anxiety

Hey, UknownHero here and welcome to another chapter of Time to Make History! Thanks for all the support so far and, hey, why don't you check out Senran Persona: Ninjas of Heart? It's a collaboration with JGResidentEvil which is set in Persona 5, which I really wanna play and not watch Let's Plays of. You know, I always had this dumb idea where the Phantom Thieves end up in Persona 5 or the Investigation Team ending up in Persona 5 just for irony's sake, but I think this fic is enough. Maybe a sequel if I ever finish this. Anyway, enough of that, let's do this.

Load Game… Start!

Chapter 6: Social & Anxiety

(4/16 Early Morning)

Minato knew he was awake now, and yet he kept his eyes shut, wanting to go back to sleep. What happened yesterday: reawakening he and Junpei reawakening their Personas, Yu and Yosuke unlocking theirs, their encounter with Shadow Junpei/Yosuke, learning about his bond with Narukami and Synchronized Personas, and not to mention the murders in Inaba and the TV World…

He was still organizing everything in his head.

Still, there was this very familiar feeling that he hadn't experienced in a while. But what was it? It wasn't the resignation of getting up early for school, and it certainly wasn't the Dark Hour… which meant only one thing.

He sighed and slowly opened his eyes, his vision adjusting to the light quick enough to recognize Aigis staring down at him with her ever-blank expression on her face, wearing her Yasogami uniform.

"Aigis… how did you get in here?" Minato sighed, not surprised at all. He looked at Yu and saw he was starting to get up.

"I asked Dojima-san before he left. I assumed he let me because he knows we know each other." Aigis replied.

"And how did you know I was sleeping over here?" Minato asked, almost regretting that decision as the words left his mouth.

"I installed tracking devices in your clothing and MP3 Player just in case before we time traveled, and I was… worried when you didn't return to the inn last night." Aigis answered. "You are my highest priority, after all, Minato-san."

"Thanks, Aigis…" Minato said sincerely and a little creeped out. "…But do you mind getting off me?" He said, referring to the fact that the Anti-Shadow Weapon was straddling him. Aigis quickly got off him as Minato sat up and stretched.

"Didn't Yukiko-san tell you I was staying over here?" Minato yawned out.

"She… did not." Aigis said. "After that news reporter interviewed her, me and neither did the others see her for the rest of the day." Minato then remembered what had happened during the interview.

"Hey, how's Fuuka?" Minato questioned. "I saw her on the news. She didn't seem herself then."

"Yukari-san asked the exact same question to her yesterday," Aigis replied. "Fuuka-san said that she doesn't know, that she could control her outburst. I suspect she is under a large amount of stress."

"But it looked like she was doing fine until yesterday…" Minato mumbled to himself before checking the time. "We better get going…"

"Mhmm…" Yu groaned as he sat up on his futon. "What was…" Yu started to mumble to himself before noticing the other guest in his room. "Uh… Palladion-san? Why are you here?"

"To see Orpheus-san," Aigis answered automatically. "School is about to commence. I suggest getting ready now, or else you will be late." Aigis said before walking out of the room. Yu looked at Minato before they nodded to each other and got up.

(Samegawa Riverbed)

"We need to discuss with Yosuke and Junpei about last night," Minato said as he and Yu walked to school. "Maybe one of them knows who it was on the Midnight Channel last night." Yu only shook his head.

"No point. The image was way too blurry." Yu pointed out. "The only detail I could see was that they wore a kimono, and that's not a lot to go off."

"You're right…" Minato sighed out. "It's going rain again tonight. Let's see if this time the Midnight Channel gives us a clearer picture."

"Yo!" Yosuke called out as he and Junpei ran up to the two.

"Sup!" Junpei greeted as well. "Hey, did you see the Midnight Channel last night?"

"We were just talking about it right now," Yu said. "Did you guys see who it was?" The two Magicians only shook their heads sadly.

"We couldn't tell who it was, but if someone's shown up on TV, we can't ignore it," Yosuke said. "Let's go check it out after school. Maybe Teddie can tell us something."

"That reminds me, we still need to figure out what Teddie is," Yu said.

"We'll get to it if something comes up," Minato said. "But right now, we need to focus on the murders."

"You're right. We'll leave the whole Teddie case for later" Yosuke said with a nod. "If it turns out someone was thrown in again, there really might be a culprit behind all this. Even if it is something about that place that's killing the victims... If someone's using that world as a weapon, that's unforgivable."

"Yeah, just the thought of this guy getting away pisses me off," Junpei admitted. "We may be way over our heads, but the police won't be able to figure it out too. Even if it didn't involve that TV World, they just don't have the staff to deal with a high-profile serial murder case."

"Junpei's right. Like I said before, we're the only ones who can do this. We need to find the culprit... no matter what it takes!" Yosuke declared. "I mean, who'd believe that the murderer kills people by throwing them into the TV?"

"We can't just solve this with just the five of us." Minato pointed out. "But at the very least we can prevent any more deaths."

"You're saying we should bring the others into this?" Junpei asked.

"Not yet. At least into the Midnight Channel." Minato answered. "Plus, we have no idea if they can reawaken their Personas."

"Wait, there are other people just like us!?" Yosuke exclaimed.

"Every single one of my friends," Minato replied with a smirk. "But they can't access them right now. We can't let them get involved outside of gathering information in the real world."

"Plus, I'm sure that they're kinda mad at us right now," Junpei said weakly.

"We'll take care of them soon enough, but right now we have a culprit to find," Yu said. "Let's bring this to an end."

"Yeah… I agree." Yosuke said softly, clutching his chest before having a determined expression on his face. Then, he remembered what he did last night apart from watching the Midnight Channel. "You know, I tried sticking my head in the TV last night, the way you did, and it actually worked."

"I tried too," Junpei spoke up. "Same thing with Yosuke. I guess now that we have our Personas, we can enter the Midnight Channel just like you guys. Though… I'm still wondering how TVs and our power of Persona are related."

"Yeah… Persona…" Yosuke whispered out, feeling Jiraiya in his mind. "Could it be that we got this gift from someone specifically so we could solve the case?" Yosuke then frowned. "Then again, you guys managed to go inside the TV and get your Personas first..."

"I don't think that's important, but it is strange," Minato said.

'There's also the question about who sent us back in time and bound our souls together…' Minato mentally added. 'Gives a whole new meaning to the word soulmate.'

"I feel like, as long as you're with me, I can find the culprit and crack this case," Yosuke said. "Well, let's do our best!"

"Also, about what happened back there…" Junpei said as he turned to Minato. "I guess… we aren't as close as we thought, huh?"

"Yeah…" Minato admitted. He really didn't hang out with Junpei a lot outside of school or Tartarus. And now that he mentioned it, he… wasn't as close to guys than the girls of SEES. Though it was important to have friends outside of the team, he could've at least hung out with them occasionally.

"Well, let's fix that!" Junpei declared with a big smile on his face. "Don't worry man. From now on, I've got your back! Let's solve this case, Minato!"

"Let's." Minato simply replied, feeling his friendship with Junpei becoming genuine.

*SHATTER*

 **Thou art I… And I am thou…**

 **Thou hast established a renewed and strengthened bond…**

 **Trust and unity will bring thy closer to the truth…**

 **Action, initiative, creativity, the conscious mind, the masculine principle…**

 **Thou shall be blessed when creating Personas of the Magician Arcana…**

Minato and Yu's eyes widened when everything around them seemed to darken as time stopped. Seeing the Magician Arcana card in front of them, burning in blue flames, they held their hands out under it before crushing it at the same time, feeling warm in their chest.

"Let's get going! We're gonna be late." Yosuke called out, snapping the two Fools out of their trance. They shook the cobwebs out of their hair and started making their way to school.

On the way there, Minato realized something.

 **The Fool: Rank 0/10**

 **The Magician: Rank 2/10**

 **The Priestess: Rank? /10**

 **The Empress: Rank? /10**

 **The Emperor: Rank? /10**

 **The Hierophant: Rank? /10**

 **The Lovers: Rank? /10**

 **The Chariot: Rank? /20**

 **The Strength: Rank? /10**

 **The Justice: Rank? /10**

 **The Hermit: Rank? /10**

 **The Wheel of Fortune: Rank? /10**

 **The Hanged Man: Rank? /10**

 **The Death: Rank 10/10**

 **The Temperance: Rank? /10**

 **The Tower: Rank? /10**

 **The Star: Rank? /10**

 **The Moon: Rank? /10**

 **The Sun: Rank? /10**

 **The Aeon: Rank? /10**

 **4 Unknown Arcana**

Minato just flat out groaned. It going to be a long year.

(Yasogami High)

"Where were you guys yesterday?" Yukari asked Minato and Junpei. They had arrived early and were now just waiting for King Moron to show up. "I know I was mad at you guys but you didn't have to sleep elsewhere…"

"We decided to move in with other people," Minato answered. "Should be a lot easier on the income."

"But still… there's something you need to know." Yukari said, looking a little anxious. Minato and Junpei looked at each other before silently deciding they should probably tell her what happened inside the TV.

"There's we need to tell you too," Minato said. "Inside the TV, we-" Suddenly, the door slid open, revealing a very worried-looking Chie as she over to Yu and Yosuke. "What the…" Minato muttered before he, Junpei and Yukari approached Yu's desk. "What's going on?"

"Uh… Chie!" Yosuke said, looking a little nervous. "Um, about yesterday—we're sorry we worried you..." He apologized.

"Never mind that. Is Yukiko still not here?" Chie asked, clearly panicking on the spot.

"Huh? Y-Yukiko-san? Uh... no?" Yosuke answered as he looked around to make sure. "At least, I haven't seen her today. Io-san, did see her leave the inn?"

"No…" Yukari answered with a frown. "I haven't seen her since yesterday. And all of us left at the same time."

"Oh no…" Chie whispered out. "Y-Y-Yukiko…"

"Chie, calm down," Yu said in a comforting tone. "Recollect your thoughts."

"Y-Yeah…" Chie said, taking in a few deep breaths, before going right back to panicking. "Oh man... What should I do? Hey, is that stuff you were talking about for real? You know; all that about how people showing up on the Midnight Channel are related to that other world."

"Oh, we were just talking about that on the way here," Junpei said. "We're thinking of checking it out later— "

"The person on TV yesterday... I think it was Yukiko." Chie interrupted, causing the others to gasp.

"A-Are you sure about that?" Junpei asked. "All we could see was just a girl in a kimono."

"That's just it!" Chie said, trying to stop herself from shouting. "That kimono looked like the one she wears at the inn, and she wore it during that interview a few days ago too."

"Now that you mention it, that kimono did look familiar…" Minato admitted. "Chie, keep going."

"I got worried, so I emailed here last night, but she hasn't responded. I called her earlier in the evening though, and she said she'd be at school today." Chie continued. It looked like she was about to cry. "I-I..."

"Calm down. We get the picture." Yosuke said calmly "And you still haven't heard from her?"

"No…" Chie answered.

"This might be bad…" Junpei groaned.

"Wh-What's bad?" Yukari asked.

"In the TV World, we learned how Saki Konishi and Mayumi Yamano died," Yu explained. "Their deaths weren't accidents; they were murdered by being shoved into the TV."

"The killer would throw them into the TV and land somewhere in the TV World with no exit. After wandering around, they would encounter their Shadow, their repressed emotions. Otherwise known as their dark side." Minato continued explaining. "They're fine when it's foggy, but once there's fog in the real world, their Shadow goes berserk and kills them. The killer goes into the TV, gets their corpse and hangs 'em up."

"Wait, Shadows!?" Yukari exclaimed. "B-B-But, I thought…"

"Yeah, us too," Minato said as he and Junpei sighed.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Chie asked, looking confused before piecing it together. "Wait, are you saying... Yukiko was thrown in there!?"

"We don't know yet for sure," Yosuke said. "We should check to see if she's safe first. Give her another call." Chie just nodded, took out her phone and called Yukiko's personal phone number.

"No good… Her voicemail picked up…" Chie said; the panic in her tone increasing. "S-She's not answering..."

"Are you serious? Then is Yukiko-san inside that place?" Yosuke said, his eyes widening.

"Let's not assume the worst yet," Minato said firmly before looking around. "Palladion! Lucia!"

"What is it, Orpheus-san?" Aigis asked as she and Fuuka approached the group.

"You saw Yukiko at the inn this morning?" Minato asked.

"Sorry, but no," Fuuka answered with a frown. "I assumed that she was busy and needed to stay behind for a while. Things there have been a bit chaotic lately since…"

"Y-Y-Yeah! That must be it!" Chie spoke up, interrupting Fuuka. "Something must've come up, like an errand or something..." She muttered. "Oh, or she might be helping at the inn! She wouldn't be able to answer her cell if that's it!"

"Yeah, but would she skip school for that?" Yosuke pointed out.

"I assume this is not an uncommon occurrence?" Aigis guessed.

"W-Well, not really, but I'll give the inn a call," Chie said as she pulled out her phone again. "Umm... I've got the number here somewhere..."

"What's going on?" Fuuka asked Minato.

"Don't worry about it," Minato replied. "Just watch the Midnight Channel tonight. Yukari, you mind giving Aigis and Fuuka a quick rundown of so far?" Yukari nodded at Minato and started explaining. Fuuka looked unsure but trusted her leader enough to save her questions for later, after she got an abridged version of how the killer kills his/her victims.

"C'mon, Yukiko... Pick up..." Chie said, her foot tapping impatiently on the ground.

Suddenly, there was a click.

"Oh, is this Yukiko!? Thank god, she's there!" Chie breathed a sigh of relief as all the tension before faded away. "Uh-huh... Uh-huh, I see... Ah, uh. Nah, it was nothing, haha. I'll email you again later..." And with that, she hung up and stuffed her phone into her pocket and sighed. "She was over at the inn. She said they had a large group reservation and she had to help. Yeah... Now that I think about it, this has happened before, too. At least once a year. She said she'll be at the inn tomorrow, too."

"Well, at least she's-" Yosuke started, only to get smacked in the shoulder by Chie. "Ow!" Junpei couldn't help but wince at the phantom pain in his own shoulder. "The Hell, Chie!?"

"Oh, for crying out loud, Yosuke! You got me worried over nothing! She was totally fine!" Chie shouted out. "And you were all, 'Is Yukiko-san inside that place...?' Hmph!"

"To be fair, there is a serial killer running around so you can't be too cautious." Minato pointed out.

"But did freak her out a little…" Yosuke admitted. "But there is a reason we thought that."

"What is your reasoning, Yosuke-san?" Aigis asked, understanding enough of the case to be involved.

"Well... we thought people show up on the Midnight Channel because they're already over in that world," Yosuke explained. "I mean, it makes sense, right? People show up on TV because they're inside the TV."

"But Chie-san just called Yukiko-san. She's fine and in our world." Fuuka said.

"And that's what we're wondering right now," Yu spoke up. "We need to see what's happening. Let's all meet up at Junes after school."

"Sorry, but I can't come," Yukari said. "I volunteered to help Yukiko's mum after school…"

"Huh, must be really busy at the inn if you're helping around the inn," Junpei noted.

"Yeah…" Yukari said weakly, before glancing at Chie. "I'll keep an eye on Yukiko."

"Thanks, Io-tan," Junpei said before the bell rang.

"We're all meeting up at Junes after school. Be on time." Yosuke said as Minato, Yu, Fuuka, Chie, Aigis and Junpei nodded.

(After School)

(Junes, Electronics Department)

"That is certainly odd how you guys regained your Personas," Fuuka muttered.

"Yeah, but it wasn't exactly as easy as pulling a trigger…" Junpei groaned. "Man, that sucked…"

"Still, am I curious how Yu-san and Yosuke-san are able to summon Personas without Evokers," Aigis spoke up. "I am sure Mitsuru-san will be interested."

"Before she executes us doing something so reckless and stupid." Minato pointed out. "We almost died over at the TV World multiple times already."

"Sh-She wouldn't do that to us, right?" Junpei asked nervously. "W-We are closer to solving the case a-a-and getting back home." The others only responded with silence, causing Junpei to quietly freak out.

"…You really should've been there." Yu told Chie as the group approached the TV. "Their Shadow was all _LIGHTNING OF EXTINCTION_ and _WIND OF OBLIVION_. You guys' Shadow was calling out its attack like it was anime or something."

"O-Okay, I think that's more than enough about our sorry escapades," Yosuke said. "And don't you do it to command your Persona?"

"Yeah, but me and Minato make it look awesome." Yu joked as he swiftly put on his glasses and held out his arm. "Izanagi! Zio!"

"Guys, can we get back on track here!" Chie called out, getting everyone's attention. "Seriously, if I hadn't seen the place first hand... I'd never have believed a story like that."

"And that's why we're keeping this from the police," Minato said before turning to TV. "Now, we need to get in contact with Teddie to see what's happening inside."

"'Teddie'?" Fuuka repeated, looking confused.

"Wait, you don't mean that bear guy," Chie said, only further confusing Fuuka.

"Yep. He's basically our guide to the TV World." Yosuke answered before looking around. "Damn, there are too many customers around. I forgot there's a sale in the electronics department today."

"We can't enter the TV with so many witnesses," Junpei said before Yosuke got an idea.

"I got it," Yosuke said with a snap of a finger. "C'mere a sec." He said as he guided Yu in front of the TV. "Yu, try sticking your hand in and calling him over. I bet that bear's wandering around the entrance anyway." He then turned to the others. "Alright, everyone else, surround him. Make a wall."

"Won't that make us a little suspicious?" Fuuka pointed out.

"Then we'll act like we're really interested in this one TV. I mean, it's a lot bigger than a lot of other TVs." Yosuke said off-handedly. "Now hurry up." Everyone nodded and made a quick human wall around Yu.

"Hm, this seems to be working," Aigis noted.

"Alright, here goes nothing," Yu said, taking one last look around before sticking his hand in. "C'mon Teddie… we need you…" He whispered before a sharp pain ran up his arm before something else grabbed him.

"Partner, what's wrong?" Yosuke asked as he saw Yu struggle to pull his arm out of the TV.

"Please reduce your noise levels," Aigis suggested, seeing people looking in their direction.

"Teddie. Don't pull me in!" Yu called out before pulling his arm out, seeing bite marks on his fingers.

"Well, that's not something you see every day…" Minato deadpanned as Yu tried to numb the pain.

"Dude, it left teeth marks!" Chie gasped.

"Are you alright?" Fuuka asked as she checked there was no serious damage.

"I might be dying," Yu said flatly with a calm expression on his face.

"No, you're not." Chie deadpanned before turning to the TV. "Hey, you! We know you're in there!"

"Ooh ooh! Is this a game?" Teddie said as rippled started to form on the TV screen.

"Th-There really is someone on the other side…" Fuuka mumbled out.

"Chie-san said that this Teddie person is a bear…" Aigis wondered out loud.

"No, it's not a game!" Yosuke called out. "And why the Hell did you try to pull Yu in?"

"It wasn't me!" Teddie exclaimed. "Static-chan, don't do that next time. That's bear-y naughty of you."

"What the- Who the- Is someone else in there!?" Junpei shouted in surprise.

"It doesn't matter right now!" Chie spoke up. "Yukiko! Midnight Channel! Her being in danger!"

"Oh, right," Yosuke said before clearing his throat. "Can you sense anyone inside there right now?"

"Who's 'anyone'?" Teddie asked in a confused tone. "Apart from Static-chan, I'm a lonely little bear like always. This land feels so bear-ren..." Then there was a pause. "Aw… thank you Static-chan."

'Does… Teddie have an imaginary friend?' Minato and Yu thought.

"Shut it!" Chie called out. "So, there's no one inside? You're sure?"

"I-I'm not lying! My nose is running as good as ever!" Teddie quickly explained.

"Well, that confirms Yukiko is safe for now," Minato said.

"...I'm gonna go warn Yukiko anyway," Chie said after some time thinking. "Since she'll be busy this weekend helping at the inn, I doubt she'd go anywhere alone, especially with Io helping out but still..."

"Yeah... You'll walk with her to school on Monday, right?" Yosuke said.

"Sure, I'll go pick her up at her house," Chie replied.

"Me and Palladion-san will have the others keep an eye on her as well," Fuuka said.

"I will protect Yukiko-san with my life." Aigis declared.

"Good, but let's keep watching the Midnight Channel," Yosuke suggested. "Maybe we'll find out more tonight. Cross your fingers that this is all a misunderstanding..."

"We all need to keep in contact in case something happens," Yu said. "Communication is key here."

"But… none of us have phones." Fuuka pointed out. "Only Yu, Chie and Yosuke have ones."

"Then we'll only exchange each other's," Yu said. "If you're in contact with me, you're in contact with Orpheus as well."

"Well, it's better than nothing…" Yosuke said with a sigh. "What's your cell number? I'll call you when I watch it tonight. Chie, think you can give us the Amagi Inn's number? We'll use that to contact Io, Aigis, and the others."

"Okay," Chie said with a nod. After a quick exchange of phone numbers (though, Chie didn't give out hers to Yu for her own reasons), they now had a communication network with each other.

"Alright everyone, don't forget to watch tonight," Yu said. Everyone nodded at that. "Okay, next on the list, we need to move Minato and Junpei's stuff into our rooms."

"Probably won't take long," Minato spoke up. "We don't exactly have a lot of stuff with us when we came here."

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Yosuke asked rhetorically, a smile on his face. "Let's go."

(Evening)

"Well, that's it," Minato said as he put away the last of his clothes in Yu's room. It didn't take long, as he already said, but it did take a while to move their things to their respective houses. Turns out Junpei was currently staying in the guest room at Yosuke's place and he had promised to work at Junes in exchange. Anyway, Minato stretched before checking the time.

 **(11:55)**

"Yu, it's almost time," Minato announced. Yu walked back into the room after going to the bathroom. "Hurry up."

"Alright," Yu replied as he crouched to unplug his TV. "Let's hope it's just Chie being paranoid…"

"Me too," Minato said as he checked that it was still raining before they both stood in front of the TV. "But I have a feeling that Chie may be right."

 **(11:59)**

"Well, we're about to find out…" Yu said before Minato turned off the light and focused their gaze at inactive TV.

 **(Midnight)**

And then, the TV came to life.

It was vividly clear image now, meaning there was no mistake could be made in recognizing who it was on the screen. The overall look seemed to be that of a low-budget reality TV show.

That wasn't the two Fools' main concern, however. It was the fact that Yukiko on the Midnight Channel in a royal dress, almost like she was a princess standing in front of a castle.

"Good evening!" Yukiko shouted out. "Tonight, Princess **Fu** -Yukiko has an amazing surprise—I'm gonna go score myself a hot stud! Welcome to "Not a Dream, Not a Hoax"—Princess Yukiko- **ka** 's Hunt for her Prince Charming!"

"…Prince Charming?" Yu mumbled out, now really confused. Was this really Yukiko? Meanwhile, Minato squinted as he noticed the screen glitch out a little, but ignored it for now. He was more concerned that Yukiko was on the Midnight Channel, when before it was just static with faint images.

"And I came prepared: I've got my lacy unmentionables on, stacked from top to bottom! I'm out to catch a whole harem, and the best of the lot is gonna be all mine! Well—here I goooo!" Yukiko exclaimed before dashing off into the castle, a red and black vortex being the entrance.

And then, as soon as it hit 12:01, the TV shut off.

"…A whole harem?" Minato only managed to find his words just now.

"Lacy… unmentionables?" Yu muttered. "That… was definitely Yukiko on the Midnight Channel."

"Damn it!" Minato swore, trying to keep quiet to make sure Nanako wouldn't wake up as Yu's phone rang. "If she isn't on the TV now…"

"H-Hey, did you see that?" Yosuke asked as soon as Yu answered his phone. He quickly put it on speaker for Minato to listen in as well.

"Yeah. That was Yukiko on the Midnight Channel for sure." Minato replied.

"Dude, we know. She even said her name." Junpei said. Looks like Yosuke also had the idea to put his phone on speaker too. "But… don't you think that she was acting really odd?"

"Yeah… it may have looked like Yukiko, but she would never act like that." Yosuke pointed out. "This is way more different than Saki-senpai's appearance on there."

"And she looked like she was on some low-budget TV show...!" Junpei exclaimed. "Was it like this before with that news reporter? Just what the Hell is going on here?"

"Everyone calm down," Yu said calmly. "Yosuke, contact Chie. I'll call the inn to see if anyone's up. See if Minato's friends know anything, maybe even check if her folks know anything."

"Y-You're right! Let's get her to contact Yukiko-san!" Yosuke said. "Tomorrow's Sunday, so let's meet up at Junes first thing in the morning!"

"And remember to get your glasses," Minato said. "I think we need to take a little trip into the Midnight Channel."

"Right. We'll meet you there." Junpei said before Yosuke hanged up on them. Yu quickly dialed the number to the inn and waited for someone to pick up. "Come on…"

"It's midnight, so it's going to take a bit," Minato informed. A few seconds later, one of the late-night workers of the Amagi Inn answered. Minato grabbed the phone and quickly asked for one of the girls in SEES. After a minute, one of them answered.

"Hello?" Yukari said. She sounded a little panicked. "Who is this?"

"It's me, Yukari," Minato said. "What the hell happened? Did you see the Midnight Channel?"

"Yeah, just did," Yukari answered. "Minato-kun, she's gone! I did my best to keep track of her, but as soon as I tried to help the staff, she disappeared! Another one right under our noses…"

"It's not your fault. You couldn't do anything." Minato comforted her.

"That's not all," Yukari said. "Fuuka … she's…"

"Huh? What's wrong with Fuuka?" Minato asked, now worried. "Did she get kidnapped too?"

"No, she was with us watching the Midnight Channel. She was with Aigis the whole time." Yukari said, hesitating to say the next few words. "Minato-kun… she didn't see Yukiko-san." Yukari swallowed some of the saliva building up in her mouth before letting it out.

"She said she saw herself."

Save Game… Quit!

Whew! Done! God, I'm updating a lot lately, and releasing new fics. I have such a backlog…

UknownHero signing off, my friends!


	7. Chapter 7: Up Your Arsenal

Hello, fellow heroes (man sounds that's stupid). UknownHero here and welcome to another chapter of Time To Make History! Decided to write this chapter because I woke up this morning only to see Persona 3 and 5 are getting Dancing spin-offs and Persona Q2 is in the works.

Oh God, P3, P4, P5 party members… all in one goddamn game… how the hell many party members is gonna be that!? Seriously, I bet right now people are losing their shit their fan fictions are about to become reality.

Also, I just checked my CPU and it says that it's using all of it. 100%. I know my computer's old but I should really start investing a new, more powerful one. My bro keeps promising to build me a new PC but until I have 2000 bucks, I guess this old thing gonna have to last a few more years.

Anyway… onto the reviews, I guess. To Card-Golem: Yes, they are linked by their Arcana. However, I do know about the gaps that would leave. I already worked those out a long time ago, though Shinjiro's one has to come down to a vote because there are a lot of options to choose from. Though I am leaning towards one person… And… that's it, really. Damn, now time to make history! Again… hopefully!

Load Game… Start!

Chapter 7: Up Your Arsenal

(4/17 Early Morning)

That night, Minato didn't get a lot of sleep.

He just wanted to remind himself of that fact: Minato Arisato, a man known for sleeping at the drop of a hat without a second thought, didn't sleep well.

Yu only knew him for about six days, and already he knew this was a bad sign. Was it because Yukiko was kidnapped yesterday? Or was it because of what Io said, that Lucia saw herself on the Midnight Channel? Whatever it was, it was affecting Minato, which in turn was subtly affecting himself. He could sense his dread and confusion, even though neither of them showed any emotion on their faces.

Yu quickly shook his head before getting up to wake up Minato. They didn't have the time to worry.

They had an heiress to save.

(Some time later…)

After dressing into their casual winter clothes, since it was Sunday today, they headed downstairs to eat a quick breakfast before heading out. They needed to meet Yosuke and the others at Junes soon. They saw that Nanako was drinking orange juice at the table already. It seemed she woke up earlier, maybe to prepare breakfast.

"Oh, good morning." Nanako greeted. Minato looked around and saw there were no signs of Dojima's presence.

'Looks like Nanako is the only one here…' Minato thought with a small frown.

"Where's your father?" Yu asked.

"He left already. He said he's gonna be late." Nanako replied. The Fools actually took pause to think about this for a second. If they left, more than likely Nanako would be alone for the entire day and she really looked like she needed someone to look after her. But… they really needed to meet up with the others at Junes and if they were going into the TV World today, they needed all the man power they could muster, plus their Wild Cards were invaluable to any team. "Are you guys going somewhere? I'll be fine by myself."

"Yeah, but uh…" Minato said before Nanako turned on the TV.

"—so the weather this weekend will be perfect for going out." The weather announcer said. Minato and Yu winced. It was like the world was telling them to go out today. "As for next week's forecast..."

"Oh, the sun's gonna come out. I should do some laundry." Nanako said as she stood up. "Uh... Weren't you two going somewhere? I left your breakfast on the counter."

Minato and Yu looked at each other before sighing. After eating, they gave a quick good-bye to Nanako before heading out to Junes.

(Daytime)

(Junes Food Court)

'Your affection… your affection… take it from me~' Music blasted into Minato's ears as he listened to one of tracks he download a few days ago. It wasn't his type of music but for some reason he had been leaning towards more… upbeat, pop songs as of late. He wondered if it was because his soul was bound to Yu that his taste in music had changed.

"They should be coming soon…" Yu muttered as he checked the time. They got to Junes about half an hour earlier than the scheduled time and started to waste some time. Yu was making paper cranes and Minato just sat and listened to his music as they waited for Yosuke, Junpei, Aigis, Fukka, Yukari and Chie. It was around the time Yu made his 40th origami crane when Minato spotted Junpei and Yosuke approach them, their hands behind their backs.

"Sorry for the hold up." Yosuke apologized. "But we found some stuff we could use in my closet back home."

"Please tell me it recovers SP…" Minato muttered to himself before taking off his headphones.

"Get a load of these babies!" Junpei exclaimed as they revealed what was behind their backs. Yu and Minato's eyes widened when they saw the Magicians holding weapons in their hands. Yosuke had a katana and an aikuchi, Junpei had a mace and a war hammer.

They had a good feeling this was not going to end well.

'Thou friends art idiots.' The Fools thought.

"You brought weapons." Minato deadpanned.

"Yep! We've got our Personas, but a golf club and a broken pipe aren't the best weapons." Yosuke pointed out. "So, which one strikes your fancy?"

"You brought weapons." Yu said with a bit more force in his tone.

"Hey, don't worry about it, man." Junpei tried to reassure the grey-haired Fool. "They're fakes. Gotten exclusively from the Junes-brand Cosplay Weaponry line."

"You brought weapons!" Minato and Yu called out.

"Hey, what's your problem?" Junpei said. "We need to defend ourselves when we're in there when we can't use our Personas. What's the big deal with us bringing weapons here? You did it all the time, Orpheus!"

"Yeah, but we had the police on our side." Minato pointed out. "By the way, look behind you."

"FREEZE!"

"HEY WAIT!"

"HE'S RESISTING ARREST!"

*BZZT!*

(Inaba Police Station)

"There is a serial killer out there, two people died and you guys brought weapons into a public place." Yu deadpanned.

"Okay! Okay! We get it already!" Junpei exclaimed, trying to shake-off some aftershocks. Currently, they were waiting in the hallway of the police station, waiting for Dojima to clear everything and get them out of trouble. "Damn it… they took all our weapons…"

"Not surprising…" Minato deadpanned. "Why do you think there wasn't any Cosplay Weaponry on sale at Junes in the first place?"

"I got tased, bro! We get it!" Yosuke exclaimed just as Dojima approached, clearly frustrated by the whole thing. They all shut up and listened to him.

"You didn't seem the type to pull a stupid stunt like this…" Dojima said. "You know what's been going on around town. We got men stationed everywhere. For god's sake... You're lucky I was around, or this would have ended up on your permanent record." Dojima then turned to Minato and Junpei. "And you two would've been kicked out of where you're living."

"Sorry, Dojima-san." Minato apologized. "It's just… it didn't feel right not to have our fake guns on us, plus there's a serial killer out there, so Yosuke here offered to bring us something. It was a stupid idea in retrospect so we promise, it won't happen again."

"It better," Dojima said with a sigh, just as two police officers, one in uniform and one in plain clothes, walked past them.

"Wait, so the one that disappeared is the Amagi girl…?" The plainclothesman said incredulously.

"Seems like it…" The uniformed officer replied. "But she's just a high schooler, you know. Could be she ran away from home…?" The boys just winced as they heard the news.

"Hey, did he say Amagi?" Yosuke mumbled with a grimace on his face. "Then... She really is—"

"Hm? Who's what now?" Dojima asked, not quite getting what Yosuke said.

"Oh, uh, nothing!" Yosuke quickly said.

"I'm sure you've seen on the news that there's an investigation in progress. We're sensitive about certain things." Dojima informed the boys. "You're free to go. But this better not happen again."

"Of course…" Junpei said with a sigh as the detective walked away. "Well, that confirms it. Yukiko-san is in the TV World."

"Then let's get out of here," Yu said. "We can work out getting better weapons later. I'm sure the girls are wondering where we are." With that, they started making their way to the exit, before bumping into Adachi holding a cup of coffee.

"Whoa… Pardon me." He apologized before recognizing Junpei and Minato. "Hey, uh… Orpheus and… Hermes? How have you been?"

"Fine so far. Staying with these guys." Minato replied. Adachi then turned his attention to Yu.

"Ah, I'm guessing you're the kid that's staying at Dojima-san's place then," Adachi said.

"Aren't you the guy that puked a few days ago?" Yu asked.

"Ugh… don't remind me. Never had the strongest stomach." Adachi groaned out. "Plus, never thought a dead body would show up here of all places. Town's too damn sleepy for a murder, let alone a serial killer."

"Oh! Uh, can we ask you something?" Yosuke spoke up, realizing they could use the man to learn more about Yukiko's disappearance. "It's about Yukiko-san... I mean, Yukiko Amagi of the Amagi Inn. Did something happen to her?"

"Huh? Oh, umm... Am I allowed to say? Well, if you're friends with Ms. Amagi... Keep this between us, okay?" Adachi said. The boys quickly nodded, while also making a mental note to relay everything Adachi says to the girls. "We got a call from Ms. Amagi's parents yesterday evening saying they couldn't find her anywhere."

"Yeah, we uh, got a call from a friend asking where Amagi-san was last night." Junpei lied. "Really weird."

"Yep," Adachi replied with a nod. "Since it was the weekend, the workers at the Inn were extremely busy, and no one saw Ms. Amagi around that time."

"So, is it possible she's been kidnapped?" Minato guessed.

"It is possible, but it isn't really a case just yet," Adachi explained. "For all we know, it could be a false alarm and she's safe. But, people have been turning up dead on foggy days, so we're really sensitive to stuff like this." Adachi then frowned a little before questioning the boys. "By the way, did she say anything to you guys about maybe going through some hard times?"

This raised a few alarm bells in their heads.

"Uh…? Hard times?" Yosuke said, looking confused.

"I mean, the inn was pretty busy last time we were there…" Junpei muttered out.

"Yukiko has been leaving early last week…" Minato mumbled to himself before frowning. Yukari was supposed to be helping out at the Amagi Inn, so wouldn't she know about anything wrong happening at the Inn?

"Not that we're aware of," Yu answered truthfully. "Why ask about this?"

"Well, that announcer, Ms. Yamano, was staying at the Amagi Inn before the first murder." Adachi started to explain. "Seems Ms. Yamano had some harsh words for the manager about the staff's attitude towards guests. The stress of it caused the manager to collapse."

"What!?" The boys exclaimed.

"Y-Yukiko's mother collapsed!?" Junpei exclaimed.

"Damn it, Yukari…" Minato swore under his breath. Yukari must've known about it and hid the fact from him. It would also explain why she was helping out even though he swore she never worked a day in her life. They were gonna have a long talk about this later.

"Dude, did she have a heart attack or something!?" Yosuke shouted out.

"Hey! It isn't anything life threatening or anything!" Adachi quickly corrected. "I heard all she needed was some rest! That's all!"

"Still…" Yu muttered with a wince. Yukiko's mother collapsing was explaining why Yukiko had been leaving early and not showing up to school lately.

"And with Ms. Amagi being the manager's daughter... She must've felt pretty strongly about the incident, y'know." Adachi continued. "By the way, did Ms. Amagi ever hint that she might be leaving the house?" This confused the boys. They took a quick glance at each other before shrugging.

"Uh… no…" Yosuke replied. "Never really said anything about it as far as I know."

"Really? 'Cause if not, there's been some theories floating around that she's laying low for some reason or another..." Adachi muttered out loud before slapping his free hand over his mouth as the boys' eyes widened. "Crap, I think I've gone too far. You didn't hear that, okay?"

"Adachi, what the hell are you chatting with civvies for!? And where's my coffee!?" They heard Dojima shout out.

"S-Sorry! I got it right here!" Adachi called. "Psst! Forget I said anything! Please!" He whispered to the boys before dashing off. The boys just stood in the hallway as they stared at Adachi's retreating form.

"...I think we need to talk to Chie and the girls." Minato stated.

"No shit," Junpei said. "The police think Yukiko's the-"

"Not here." Yu interrupted with a stern tone. "Not now. Junes. Now." And with that, the boys continued walking to the exit. They didn't say anything, contemplating the information they had now. When they made it to the front office, Yosuke couldn't hold it in.

"Hey… does that detective really believe that Yukiko-san—" Yosuke started before being interrupted.

"There you are!" Chie called out as she, Aigis and Fuuka approached them. Aigis seemed pretty out of place since she wore her Gekkoukan uniform instead of anything casual. "Sheesh, what're you guys doing!? We've been looking everywhere for you guys!"

"Sorry. Long story." Junpei groaned. "Long story short, we were kind of idiots."

"Why does that not surprise me…" Chie deadpanned.

"This isn't time for jokes!" Yosuke called out. "Something's up with Yukiko-san!"

"We have already talked with Satonaka-san with the subject," Aigis said. "We can confirm that Amagi-san is missing."

"It's already on the morning news," Fuuka said. "But I haven't heard about anyone seeing what happened on the Midnight Channel, though."

"Has anyone mention you being on there?" Minato asked. Fuuka quickly shook her head. "Good. Now, where's Io?"

"Still lending her assistance at the inn at this moment." Aigis informed them. "She will not be available for an uncertain amount of time."

"Chie, you watched Midnight Channel last night, right?" Yosuke questioned.

"Yeah. As soon as it shut off I tried to call Yukiko on her cell and she wasn't picking up." Chie replied. "I got really worried so I headed straight for her house, and she wasn't there! Yukiko really did disappear!"

"It would be safe to assume that she was only kidnapped last night." Minato theorized before looking at Fuuka and Aigis. "Hey, when was the last time you guys saw Yukiko?"

"U-Uh… Um… around… 9 o'clock at night?" Fuuka guessed.

"Exactly 8:56 pm." Aigis corrected. Chie looked at Aigis weirdly before shrugging.

"So between nine and midnight," Yu muttered. "That's still pretty early so that would mean she wasn't kidnapped in her sleep. And since no one noticed until we saw Midnight Channel, I assume there wasn't a struggle."

"Damn, this guy isn't gonna be easy to catch, huh," Yosuke grumbled.

"Can we get back to Yukiko here!" Chie called out. "We can figure out how she was kidnapped later!"

"Oh right!" Yosuke exclaimed. "Guess we've got no choice but to go now. But that aside, the cops are saying some weird stuff."

"Yeah, they think Yukiko-san's hiding to 'lay low'..." Junpei added in as Fuuka gasped.

"Wait, they think… Yukiko-san's the murderer?" Fuuka said in disbelief.

"What the-!? How the Hell did they come up with that!?" Chie shouted out.

"Apparently Yukiko-san's mom collapsed because that announcer lady bitched her out," Yosuke explained. "They think that gives her a motive, and the fact that the announcer died right after makes her even more suspicious..."

"What!? What the Hell do they know!? What the hell is wrong with them!?" Chie called out. "You hear that you assholes! Yukiko isn't a-!" Junpei and Minato quickly covered Chie's mouth and held her back from attacking someone.

"Highly unlikely given what we know, but to those unaware…" Aigis said.

"Dude, shut up! You're gonna get arrested at this rate!" Junpei scolded.

"Am… Am I next…?" Fuuka whispered to herself, shivering on the spot.

"Yukiko's the victim here, dammit, not the suspect..." Yosuke mumbled under his breath, clearly frustrated by the whole thing.

'Looks like everyone's agitated.' The Fools thought.

"Everyone, let's calm down," Yu said.

"Yeah, right now we need to save her," Minato said.

"Y-Yeah, they're right. We need to keep focused." Yosuke spoke up. Everyone stopped what they were doing and quickly started taking deep breaths.

"R-Right," Chie said after Junpei and Minato let go of her. "Yukiko's in danger. That's important."

"The police are going to try and arrest Yukiko-san if we don't do something." Fuuka pointed out.

"Yeah. We have to do this by ourselves." Yosuke said.

"I'm going to! And that's final! I'm going to save Yukiko no matter what!" Chie declared.

"From one of those action movies Hermes-san enjoys, 'Take us with you, damn it!'" Aigis said, already shifting into a battle stance.

"Uh… Are you sure?" Yosuke asked. "I mean, you guys really don't have powers like us…"

"Don't worry about Palladion and Lucia. They faced their fair share of Shadows before. They can help." Minato said as he looked at his friends. "Why though? You guys don't…"

"You are my highest priority, Orpheus-san," Aigis answered. "Even without a Persona, I will protect you."

"And… after what I saw last night… this involves me." Fuuka spoke up. "Whatever that… thing was on the Midnight Channel… I have to find out."

"Well, if they're coming with us, at the very least they need a way to defend themselves." Yu pointed out. Minato winced a little. Fuuka had no combat experience outside of her support role while Aigis didn't have any ammo to use, and he really doubted they could get their hands on military-grade bullets or grenades.

"And all our gear was just confiscated…" Yosuke reminded them. "We can't go empty-handed, and my dad's gonna wonder where his wrenches are at sooner or later."

"Weapons? I know just the place!" Chie said. "C'mon, follow me!" And with that, she dashed off. With a shrug, they all chased after the meat-loving tomboy.

(Some time later…)

(Daidara Metalworks)

"Here we are!" Chie said as the group entered the shop. Fuuka had gone to the bookshop for some reason and told them she would meet them outside. There were various weapons and pieces of armor on display and it was also really warm in the shop. They could clearly see the forge in the back as well as various weapons still in the works, with a man with scarred face working on his latest creation.

"Wh-What kinda shop is this...?" Yosuke wondered out loud, looking around the place.

"A metalworks, I guess? They sell all sorts of metal cra…" Chie started before trailing off as she saw the owner glaring at her, almost daring her to finish that sentence. "…Metal… cra…fts. Yeah, metal crafts. Katanas and stuff."

"Doesn't it seem weird to you that there's a metalwork in the middle of a shopping district." Junpei pointed out. "Let alone right next to a bookshop?"

"I would inquire how one would know about a place like this," Aigis spoke up.

"Oh, I just overheard some guys in our class talking about," Chie explained. "They said this place sells good quality weapons and armor at some really cheap prices." Chie then walked up to a set of armor that looked like it was designed for knights. "Here, this one looks good. But it might be too heavy..."

"I dunno, Chie... I still think it's too dangerous." Yosuke admitted.

"It is. I predict that Chie-san will not survive if she were to encounter an enemy head-on." Aigis informed everyone. "Which she will most likely will."

"What the-!? No way! I can and I will!" Chie called out. "I know how to fight! I've been practicing ever since I was a little kid!"

"Chie-san, you really don't get it," Junpei said. "I mean, I get how you feel, but—"

"You don't!" Chie shouted out. "You don't know shit about how I feel. Yukiko might die from this, for crying out loud!"

"You could die too." Yu pointed out with a frown. "Seriously, we're not messing around here. If you're serious about this, just know that you might not be stepping back out of that TV."

"Yukiko means everything to me," Chie said with a determined expression on her face. "I'm going, and that's that!" Minato, Yu, Aigis, Yosuke and Junpei looked at each other before sighing in defeat.

"Okay." Minato relented. "But stay behind us with Lucia. She isn't a fighter so you're her bodyguard until otherwise, got it?"

"Psh, I'll be fine! My reflexes are second to none!" Chie boasted.

"Reflexes aren't going to be enough," Yu said. "You better find something to protect yourself with here before we head out. We don't know what we're gonna face there so be prepared for anything."

"Alright…" Chie said as she started browsing at all the armor available.

"Man, there's so much to choose from here," Junpei muttered to himself before turning to Minato. "I think I'm gonna stick with my Metal Bat though. I'm gonna go grab it now. Think you can pick out something nice for me?"

"As always," Minato said as Junpei gave him his money before leaving.

"That's a good idea," Yosuke admitted before turning to Yu. "Hey, Narukami. Mind picking out something for me, too? You're one of our main assets in battle right now, so I think you should choose whatever makes it easiest for you."

"Any recommendations?" Yu asked as Yosuke gave him his money.

"Something I can dual wield. Like knives or something." Yosuke replied. Yu nodded before he and Minato approached the counter.

"Have you come to see my art?" the blacksmith, Daidara, said as the Fools approached him. "If you want something special, bring me your own materials and I'll try to use them for you. I always like seeing new things and trying new techniques. So, bring me some rare materials that I've never seen before. If you do, I can make you some really cool stuff. When choosing what to create, the number and type of materials vary. If you bring me the proper materials, I can use them to create some fine pieces of art for you. But, what I make is up to me. I am the artist here, after all. I'll be expecting some praise, too!"

'Looks we're gonna have to work for our weapons and armor, huh?' Minato thought. 'Still, a nice way to make some money.'

They ended up buying more than a few things. Yu and Minato bought five sets of Kevlar Vests for themselves, Yosuke, Junpei, and Fuuka first off before moving on to weapons. Yu ended up buying for himself an Imitation Katana and a pair of Kunai for Yosuke. Minato just bought himself a Shortsword.

"Well, I think that's it for everyone…" Minato muttered to himself after distributing as much equipment as he could. "Is everyone ready yet?"

"Please wait a moment," Aigis said before looking around, with Chie waiting behind her. Since she couldn't use her guns, she decided she needed to arm herself with something different. But… she never bought herself any weapons, that was usually Minato's duty, so she really didn't know what she wanted. She then spotted something in a dark corner. "What is that at the back?"

"Hm? What?" Daidara said before looking at the Broken Sword. It looked like it was just taken out of the forge, with a large cross guard and a shiny silver blade. However, said blade was snapped in two. "Ah, what a shame that was. Something went wrong in the forging process and by the time I noticed it was too late. Planning to break it down or throw it away." He then paused and started thinking for a few seconds. "But… you can have it for 1,200 yen."

"I will take that deal," Aigis said. As soon as she got it, she held the Broken Sword by the blade and gave it a couple of swings as if it was an ax. Liking the feel of it, she gave the man the money and let Chie buy her stuff.

'Not how I would wield it but a deal's a deal.' Minato thought as Junpei arrived with his Metal Bat. Without looking, Minato gave Junpei his armor as Chie approached the group.

"I got my stuff all picked out! How about you guys?" Chie asked.

"I think we're good for now," Yu answered. Everyone nodded, satisfied with what they had.

"You know, if we wear this stuff around town, we'll just get picked up again." Yosuke pointed out. "But it's not like we can waltz into Junes with a sack full of gear and expect no one to notice, either..."

"Why don't we do what we did back in the day?" Minato spoke up. "The armor we have isn't very heavy. We can easily hide them under our clothes. Our uniforms should be baggy enough to hide our gear under them."

"That's a good idea but…" Yosuke said. "We can't exactly hide swords and bats under our clothes. I mean, look at Yu's katana, it's as big as he is!"

"Yeah, and we can't exactly go at night like what we did." Junpei said with a frown. "Junes would be closed by then."

"So we just bought weapons for nothing," Yu said as everyone groaned. "So much money wast-"

Suddenly, Yu felt something tap his shoulder.

"Hm? What is…?" Yu started before he paused as he realized who, or what was behind him. "Huh."

"Yu, who is it you're…?" Minato asked before looking at what Yu was looking at. "Okay."

"What are you guys-WHAT THE SHIT IS THAT!?" Yosuke shouted out, causing everyone's attention to turn to whatever Yosuke was seeing.

Before their eyes was a humanoid shape made out of TV static. They really could tell if it was male or female, but what unnerves the Magicians was that it was smiling at them.

"What are you guys looking at?" Chie asked.

"I detect nothing classifying as 'scary' in the area," Aigis spoke up.

"Y-You really don't see the giant blob thing in front of us!?" Junpei exclaimed.

"Uh… I think you're imagining things…" Chie said.

'Looks like only Persona-users can see this thing.' Minato thought. 'I wonder why it's here. Is it from the TV World?'

"You think this is a Shadow?" Yu whispered to Minato.

"I don't know…" Minato replied, cautious of the entity.

"MiNa… aKo… Ei… ishI… GaKi… fRIend…" The entity said it's voice so distorted they could barely make out what it was saying. "WeAPoNs… GIvE… dEliVeR… eNTRancE… wOrLd…"

"What. The Hell." Junpei said, his brain unable to process whatever the hell the entity just said. "What is this paranormal bullshit…?"

"I think it'll deliver our weapons into the TV World," Yu said. "I think." The entity nodded, it's ever present creepy smile becoming wider.

"You really think we should really trust this thing!?" Yosuke asked.

"TeDDiE… KnOWs…" the entity managed to get out.

"Wait, this thing knows Teddie!?" Junpei exclaimed. "Just what the Hell is happening…?"

"We'll ask him later," Minato said before looking at the entity. "You better deliver our stuff into the TV World."

"Of... CoURse…" the entity said. Minato looked at his new Shortsword before handing it over to the entity… which it promptly absorbed into its body.

"Wh-What the-!?" Chie called out. "Your sword just disappeared!"

"Yep," Yu said casually before pushing his Imitation Katana into the entity.

"To repeat Hermes-san, 'What is this paranormal bullshit?'" Aigis said as the entity looked at Junpei and Yosuke.

"Uh… my Kunai are small enough to hide under my sleeves. I think I'm fine." Yosuke said in a nervous voice.

"And I'll just risk it," Junpei said before Minato just took his weapon out of his hands and shoved into the entity. "Hey!"

"No risks," Minato stated firmly as Yu gave the entity Aigis' weapon before it dashed off.

"Well, that was… ugh…" Yosuke mumbled out, unable to find words about what just happened. "Let's just… forget about that and get back to the investigation."

"Agreed," Junpei said. "We should probably split up for now. Junes' having a sale right now so the place will be crowded until it ends."

"And the cops will be suspicious if we walk around together," Yosuke added in.

"Alright, then I'll see you all at the Junes food court!" Chie said before leaving the metalworks.

"I will be at Junes waiting," Aigis informed the Persona-users before leaving at will.

"Guess we'll see you guys later," Junpei said as he and Yosuke left.

"I'll go ahead and tell Lucia everything," Minato said.

"And I'll head to the Shiroku Store down the street," Yu said. "See you later then."

"Right," Minato replied just before they left…

Only for a glowing, floating blue door to appear right behind them.

"Or… maybe not." Yu said as he looked around. There were a few people hanging around the shopping district but no one had seemed to notice the bizarre door appearing out of nowhere. Suddenly, a voice echoed inside the Fools' heads.

So it finally begins. Now, if you'll give me a moment of your time...

Before they knew it, something started to glow in their pockets. They quickly took whatever it was in their pockets and saw it was their Velvet Keys. Without a second thought, they approached the door and unlocked it.

(Velvet Room)

Minato slowly opened his eyes as he felt soft cushioning underneath him and beautiful piano filled his ears. He took a quick look of his surroundings and confirmed to himself he and Yu were back in the Velvet Room. However, he spotted something new other than Igor and Margaret.

It was a girl with pale skin, chin-length black hair and gray eyes and wearing a sleeveless white shirt, a short black necktie with various safety pins and a checkered skirt along with a black belt and a fancy, golden buckle which resembles a heart with wings. Additionally, she has black-striped red protective sleeves and black-striped white stockings. Her black long, dark gray heeled boots are checkered as well. She carries a deep blue bag, adorned with golden designs and matching her officer's cap with a golden button and a "V" gravure.

For some reason, she had a very different feel from the other attendants of the Velvet Room. All they could tell was that she wasn't human.

'What is she doing here?' Yu and Minato thought.

"Welcome to the Velvet Room," Igor said, polite as ever. "We have been expecting you two."

"Thank you." Yu and Minato said in unison.

"The catastrophe that is headed your way... It has already taken human lives in its approach towards you." Igor said, causing the Fools to wince. "But you have nothing to fear. You already have the power to fight against it. It seems that the time for you to use your Persona has come..." Igor then chuckled.

"Remember," Margaret spoke up. "Your Persona ability is that of the Wild Card. If you strengthen your bonds properly, their power will help you overcome any ordeal. Our role is to facilitate that."

"To Minato Arisato, you know what my role in the Velvet Room is but to Yu Narukami, my contribution... is to give birth to new Personas," Igor informed the newcomer. "By mixing together multiple Persona cards, I can transmute them into a new form... This, in other words, is the fusion of Personas. You have the power to hold multiple Personas and to use them accordingly. When you defeat an enemy, the seeds of possibility you attain will appear before you as cards. At times, they may be hard to grasp... but you must master your fear and reach out to them."

Minato silently groaned. Somehow he was a magnet for the Death Arcana. It was a miracle how far he went into Tartarus because of it.

"When you obtain new cards, please do not hesitate to bring them here." Igor continued his explanation. "If you have been developing your Social Links, then your Persona will gain even more power. They will be one of your chief sources of strength... You would do well to take this to heart." Then, Margaret reached under the counter of the bar and pulled out a book.

"The tome you see in my hand is the Persona Compendium. More specifically, Yu's Compendium." Margaret said.

"His compendium?" Minato repeated with a raised eyebrow. "What happened to my compendium?"

"I'm afraid your Persona Compendium had been… misplaced." Margaret said with a slight regretful tone. "You will be sharing with Yu's Compendium until it is found."

"So what does it do?" Yu asked.

"Registering the Personas you hold will allow you to recall them at any time. Please see me when you wish to use it." Margaret explained.

"Thank you," Yu said before looking at the new person in the Velvet Room. He seemed familiar to him. She's been quiet this entire time.

"I see you two have noticed something different here," Margaret said. "I would like to introduce a new resident of the Velvet Room, who will be helping you two on your journey."

"Nice to meet you." Minato greeted but didn't get any sort of response from her.

"Hello?" Yu tried to get some sort response for the unfriendly girl. "What's your name?"

"...Marie?" Margaret said.

"Yeah, I can hear you guys. Nice to meet you too." Marie finally spoke up. She seemed slightly rude.

"Have you met her before?" Yu whispered to Minato.

"Not at all," Minato replied quietly. "Wait, have you?"

"Maybe?" Yu muttered out before talking to Marie. "Why are you here?"

"…Dunno." She answered with a shrug. "It doesn't matter."

"Excuse her. This is Marie." Margaret said. "Her soul is still very young and—"

"Shut up!" Marie called out. "Don't tell him any more about me than you need to."

'Her soul is very young, huh?' Minato thought as he narrowed his eyes. 'She looks just as old as us. I wonder…'

"...As you can see. She may be brusque at times." Margaret continued. "But please understand that she is only an apprentice and forgive her for her impoliteness."

"Got it." Minato and Yu said with a nod.

"Marie will be dealing with 'Skill Cards.'" Margaret explained. "Using these cards will allow you to provide your Personas with new powers. Also, I am sure she will help you form a bond between yourselves and the 'outside world.' Marie will contact you at a later date. Please feel free to speak with her here when you wish to use her services."

"So you're in charge of extracting Skill Cards from our Personas…" Minato muttered.

"No. I take Skill Cards from you and register them. From then on, those Skill Cards will be available for your use to your heart's content." Marie explained. "…As long as you have the money. You're gonna have to find another way to get Skill Cards."

"Everything in the Velvet Room needs a fee, huh…" Minato groaned out as Yu sighed. They could already hear their wallets cry. Igor chuckled at the tired expressions his guests already had.

"Yu Narukami, do you recall my words to you before?" Igor questioned. "'The coming year is a turning point in your destiny... If the mystery goes unsolved, your future may be forever lost.' I meant precisely what I said. Defeat in battle is not the only way your journey may come to an end..."

"Well, we are responsible for all our actions," Yu said.

"And we are in charge of our own free will," Minato added in.

"Then please do not forget that. When next we meet, you will come here of your own wills." Igor then chuckled. "I look forward to it. Until then... farewell." Suddenly, both Fools' eyes became heavy as they taken out of the Velvet Room.

(Junes)

After they left the Velvet Room, they went home and quickly changed into their uniforms. However, Minato changed into his Gekkoukan uniform instead of his Yasogami uniform.

"My Yasogami uniform isn't loose enough for me. This uniform is." Minato said when asked about it as they waited for the elevator.

"We can't say we're going to cram school if you're in another school's uniform." Yu pointed out.

"Remember, I'm supposed to be a wandering orphan," Minato said with a smirk as they entered the elevator. "For all the public knows, these are my only other set of clothes."

"Well, let's hope the public buys it," Yu muttered as they stepped out into the Food Court. They saw the others waiting for them at one of the larger tables, with all the SEES members in their Gekkoukan uniforms and Yosuke and Chie in their Yasogami uniforms.

"Sorry we kept you guys waiting," Minato said as they walked up to the group.

"Nah, we just got here ourselves," Junpei said as they all got up from their seats before looking at the group in front him. Everyone couldn't help but wince a little.

"We really stand out, don't we?" Fuuka spoke up, carrying a rather thick book under her arm. "It doesn't help we're in our uniforms on a Sunday."

"Well, it's better to stand out wearing our uniforms than stand out carrying enough stuff to arm everyone in Inaba," Yosuke said. "Anyway, the sale should end soon, so that'll get rid of some of the people wandering around here."

"Okay, is everyone's ready?" Yu asked, and everyone nodded with determined expressions on their faces.

"Alright... let's get going," Junpei said as they started heading for the electronics department, with the members of SEES making sure their holsters were hidden away properly.

"Chie, it's not too late to—" Yosuke started only for Chie stop him.

"I'm going!" She called out.

"Yosuke, leave her alone," Minato said. "But for the love of God, Chie, stay behind us and don't push yourself too hard." He reminded her as he put on a pair of glasses. Chie only scoffed at that.

She could take care of herself.

 **-Midnight Channel-**

"What in the world…" Fuuka muttered out as she walked out of the stack of TVs, along with everyone else. Yu and Minato made a mental note that since Teddie kept the exit up, they wouldn't have to fall out of the sky ever again. Speaking of Teddie, he seemed to be huddled up in a corner of the studio. He seemed to be thinking… or sad… maybe both.

"This seems somewhat similar to the Dark Hour…" Aigis noted before doing a quick scan of the area. Suddenly, something interesting came up. Focusing on Teddie, she was getting a strange reading for him. For some reason, it didn't classify him as friendly (for most human targets) or hostile (for enemies like Strega or Shadows). It confused her systems.

Though the most interesting thing was it detecting zero percent fluff. Only fur.

"Whoa, it really is that bear from last time…" Chie said, looking at the mascot bear.

"Um… what is he doing?" Fuuka asked.

"Oh. You brought more people here." Teddie said as he turned around, revealing his sad expression on his mask. "I guess I better start working on more of them."

"'Work on more'?" Yosuke repeated. "What have you been doing all this time!?"

"Can't you tell?" Teddie said, looking a little upset. "I've been thinking about stuff."

"Ever since we left!?" Junpei clarified.

"Yep," Teddie answered. "I've been deli-bear-ating over it for a long time now." He then smiled to himself while everyone silently groaned. "Hey, that wasn't a bad joke. Heehee!"

No one laughed with him. Or at him. There was no laughing in general.

"…So, have you figured out anything?" Yu asked, breaking the awkward silence.

"Eh, it's probably useless to think about it too much. I've seen the inside of your skull, and it was empty." Yosuke joked.

"Yosuke-kun, that's rude!" Fuuka spoke up.

"No, literally," Minato said before casually taking off Teddie's head, showing there was literally nothing inside, startling Chie and Fuuka but leaving Aigis curious about Teddie. "I'm bear-y about that," Minato said as he popped Teddie's head back onto his body. Teddie chuckled before becoming sad again.

"Yosuke's right, though." Teddie sighed sadly. "I try and try but nothing comes out of my head."

"Will you guys shut up!? Now's not the time for stupid jokes!" Chie called out. "Listen—someone came here yesterday, right?" Teddie gasped at that.

"Wow! There's a girl with a better nose than me!?" Teddie exclaimed. "Hey, with all these new faces, why don't you introduce yourselves, Miss…?"

"M-Miss? Uh... I'm Chie." Chie said.

"Call me Lucia, Teddie-kun," Fuuka spoke up.

"I am Palladion," Aigis said with a bow.

"Enough introductions! Tell me more about that 'someone!'" Chie said impatiently. They really couldn't blame her for wanting to save her best friend but she needed to tone it down.

"I think it happened a little after I talked with you guys," Teddie answered. "After that, I felt like someone was here."

"Is it Yukiko-san!?" Yosuke quickly asked.

"I don't know. I haven't looked..." Teddie replied before sniffing the air and pointing in a direction. "The presence is over that way. That's probably where they are."

"Over there, huh?" Chie muttered out as she looked out at the endless fog that Teddie was pointing at.

"It is most likely where Amagi-san is located," Aigis said. "We should head over in that direction as soon as possible."

"Hey, what about our weapons!?" Junpei called out.

"Weapons?" Teddie looked confused before pointing over to another corner of the Backlot, where their weapons were. "Static-chan left for some reason and came back with all that stuff. I've been meaning to ask about it but I've been too busy thinking."

"Looks like it kept its promise," Yu said as he picked up his Imitation Katana and pulling it out of its sheath. "Alright, is everyone ready?"

"You bet I am," Chie said as she bounced on her feet.

"Yep," Junpei said as he picked up his Metal Bat.

"I'll help as best as I can." Fuuka said, holding her 'Witch Detective Loveline: Complete Series in One' book at the ready. It was all she could afford.

"Y-Yeah," Yosuke said as he slipped his Kunai out of his sleeves. "Let's go save Yukiko-san!"

"Give me a moment," Aigis said as she started unbuttoning her blazer. "I do not want these clothes to be damaged."

"Are you sure?" Minato asked before looking at Yu, Yosuke, and Chie.

"I must fight at full capacity to protect you, Minato-san," Aigis replied as she took off her blazer before moving onto her blouse.

"If you say so…" Minato muttered.

"Wh-Whoa!? What are you doing!?" Chie shouted out as Teddie looked on in amazement at what he's seeing.

"H-H-Hey! They'll be fine!" Yosuke tried to stop Aigis from stripping. "Don't strip in front of…" Before Yosuke could finish, Aigis pulled her top over her head to reveal her metallic white torso and golden disjointed shoulders. "What the Hell…"

"Well, this is new," Yu said, his eyes wide but his tone still rather casual as Aigis stripped off the last of her uniform.

"Uh… I guess we should mention this if we're gonna be fighting Shadows." Junpei said. "We're not gonna tell you her real name and kinda forget after a while but um… yeah, she's an android."

"SHE'S A WHAT!?" Yosuke and Chie yelled out.

"Well, more specifically, an ASW," Minato added in. "An Anti-Shadow Weapon."

"Anti… Shadow Weapon!?" Yosuke exclaimed. "You mean… I can't… WHAT!?"

"Should I… put my clothes back on?" Aigis asked in an innocent tone. "They will get ruined if I participate in battle…"

"J-Just keep them off," Fuuka said as she watches Chie and Yosuke scream and runs around while Teddie just kept staring at Aigis.

"We'll explain everything later. Along with the Dark Hour and stuff." Minato said with a sigh before looking at Yu, who actually didn't mind. "You don't seem surprised."

"…Look at where we are." Yu deadpanned.

"Touché," Minato said before calling out to everyone after they all calmed down. "Are we ready to go?"

"Th-that's pretty awesome," Yosuke said, feeling giddy inside despite calming down somewhat. "Alright! I'm pumped! Let's do this!"

"Okay! We're coming, Yukiko!" Chie called before she felt something tug at her jacket. She looked behind her and saw it was Teddie.

"Aren't you supposed to take your clothes off too?"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…"

"…We need the bear alive, Chie." Yu deadpanned, causing Teddie to panic.

"One kick," Chie growled. "That's it."

"He really doesn't know any better." Minato pointed out. "Save it for when you need it." Chie wanted to argue but relented. He was their only guide in this… Shadow World so she let go of her anger. They needed the bear alive.

For now.

(Yukiko's Castle)

They had been walking for what felt like hours before they started seeing something in the distance. Even with the glasses, the Fools and Magicians could only so much until they could spot a clearing in the sickly yellow fog. When they finally arrived, they stared in awe of their destination.

"What the…!?" Chie exclaimed. "A castle!?"

"It looks just like the one on the Midnight Channel…" Fuuka said before wincing. Her own voice saying such lewd and weird things. Like getting a harem. Like such things existed nowadays.

Meanwhile, Minato sneezed next to her.

"You sure no one's here with a camera filming programs for the Midnight Channel?" Junpei questioned Teddie.

"Program? I don't know." Teddie replied with a shrug. "Maybe people on your side can see stuff in this world. It might be that. And I told you before! There's only me and Shadows here! There's no 'camera' stuff going on. This world has been like this from the beginning."

"And when was the beginning?" Yu muttered to himself.

"Uh… the rumors about the Midnight Channel have been around for a while, but I don't know when it started." Chie said. "It just sort of spread around Inaba."

"So for all we know, there has always been a Midnight Channel." Minato groaned. "It's just the first time someone's been actually using it."

"And that's what I want to understand." Yosuke sighed out. "Just what the Hell is this place!?"

"I dunno... Can you guys explain everything about your world?" Teddie pointed out. "I've never seen this 'program' thingy before. So I don't know."

"So the Midnight Channel allows anyone to see into this world whenever it's on…" Fuuka clarified.

"But when Yukiko showed up on that channel was before she disappeared." Chie pointed out. "Doesn't that seem off?"

"I believe Yukiko-san said such things like 'score myself a hot stud' and admitting to wearing lace panties," Aigis said as Fuuka winced. "I believe who it was last night may not be the real Yukiko-san."

"Score… Stud… panties…?" Teddie wondered out loud but was ignored for now.

"Yeah, we couldn't believe it either," Yosuke admitted. "Yukiko-san would never say anything like that."

"It had to be an imposter. A… Shadow." Junpei spoke up before grimacing. "Just like…"

"What happened to us…" Junpei and Yosuke said in unison.

"That's… kinda freaky." Chie admitted. "Just what happened back there?"

"Oh right," Yu muttered under his breath. "We'll explain that later too."

"There's a lot of stuff I still don't get," Teddie said. "But after hearing your story, I think that 'program' happens because of the person who appears on it. Or something like that..."

"So you think Yukiko was producing the show herself," Minato said with a sigh. "Explains it being low budget."

"Th-That doesn't make any sense either!" Chie growled in frustration as she stomped around. "I don't get any of this!" She then looked up at the castle and then the red and black swirling vortex just past the gate. "Hey... Do you sense Yukiko's presence from inside?"

"Don't you mean smell?" Yu pointed out.

"Same difference," Chie said off-handedly.

"I'm pretty sure," Teddie replied before turning to Aigis. "So, um, what's this 'scoring with a hot stud' thing...?"

"I… honestly do not know," Aigis admitted. "I will have to ask Minato-san about it."

"Please don't." Minato quietly begged.

"Yukiko's here…" Chie muttered to herself, taking a few steps forward. "I'm going ahead."

"Huh, wait what?" Yosuke managed to get out before Chie charged into the castle without a second thought. "Hey, wait! Don't go alone, you idiot!" It was already too late though, Chie had disappeared into the vortex. "Oh, that stupid…"

"Chie-chan!" Fuuka gasped out.

"Didn't we just tell her not to charge in, like, twelve times!?" Junpei called out.

"I predict a seven percent chance she will make to the second floor," Aigis informed everyone. "And a 0.007% chance she will make past that unless we save her soon." Minato looked down at his hand and saw his Evoker (maybe he should rename it soon) forming in it. He looked at the castle before looking at Narukami, who had already summoned his card.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Minato said as he placed his Evoker into his holster.

"Let's just hope our princess isn't in another castle," Yu added in as they looked at Yukiko's Castle one last time before running in.

Save Game… Quit!

Whew! Done! Off to the beta and off to sleep!

UknownHero signing off, my friends!


End file.
